Messed Up
by Master Masa Random
Summary: Months after the Masayoshi incident, a simple week after Connor's death, Negi goes back in time to save an old friend. When he succeeds he accidently brings together two rival parties that are now forced to try to rebuild the delicate threads of fate. FIN
1. Welcome Back

_Welcome to the dreaded sequel to my ever-popular fanfic, Screwed Up! Seeing that this is an actual sequel, I highly recommend that you read Screwed Up first. I'm also writing the -cough- sequel cough to The Dreamer. Prepare to get confused out of your minds folks!_

_Alright, I'm going to set up the setting right here right now, It has been about half a year after Masayoshi left, two weeks ago Connor died, read The Dreamer to figure that out, Asakura is also dead, read The Dreamer to figure it out as well… I know True Serac and he's making a sequel so this is an alternate version of his sequel, if he doesn't like it, I'll delete it, no big deal. I'll work on this as well as I can, for the sake of True Serac's work as well as mine! I need you Jennon-Donnon! Fix my mistakes! Raedric, I don't know your specialization, but review and I'll be happy!_

**Disclaimer: Negima! doesn't belong to me, neither does Connor, I do however own Masayoshi and half of this storyline.**

**-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**

**Messed Up**

Masayoshi Hitodama… Hell's Fire… these are names that can describe the rouge mage standing on the hill where the magnificent World Tree loomed over Mahora Campus. A guardian looking over the weak…

_Sure makes us look like weaklings… _Masayoshi raised the brim of his cap, he wore the traditional High School Gakuran, much more neat and sophisticated than the Middle School version, and it even came with a type of snap brim. He touched the cover of a leather-bound black book; it was on a sling of sorts wrapped around his left arm. A beautifully wrought quill-like pen sat in his breast pocket, the gleaming white of the feather protruding from the pocket. He looked with a sad smile at an old destroyed shell of a clock tower on the grounds, a scar on the utter beauty of the rest of Mahora. _But it serves as a reminder that nothing can stay beautiful forever._ Thought the boy.

He pulled out a lighter and stuck a cigarette-looking object in his mouth, he coughed as the smoke hit his lungs, he stuck the paper between his index and middle finger and spat on the ground, "Disgusting." He flicked the thing in the air and it exploded, in its place a void appeared and sucked itself into the ground. He smiled, "One down." He checked a map he had since he last came here, he compared the areas near him and found his next location. He looked at the skeleton of a tower once more and shrugged, _might as well see what that magic is…_

-

Negi sat in his office, rubbing his temples. He was 11 counting now, but in this little space of time, he's become more mature… less naïve. He looked out the window to see his class playing, he sighed in relief that Mahora had a four-year middle school. He couldn't bear losing all of his students in one blow… he never wanted to get the feeling of being separated from a student like that… it'd be horrible to see them go… He quickly looked at the clock; it was still around an hour until he has to do something with the students. He grabbed a brown jacket and went outside, his destination and goal was to go visit two old friends of his…

-

Masayoshi stood in front of a beautiful garden of tsuwabuki, he smiled as the pollen seemed to create its own world, a warm… perfumed section of beauty and life within the dead. He shook his head; tears streaming from his eyes as he finally realized whose body lay underneath the ground in eternal slumber. Multiple bodies. Asakura… Connor… Sayo… Masayoshi shook his head and pulled out his book, he pulled out a page and set it on the ground, pulling out another cigarette-looking thing he lit it and set it on the paper, the paper burned wit a brilliant light, yet the tsuwanuki did not burn, the fire danced among the grass and flowers as though they were partners of life. Masayoshi stared at the fire, his dark eyes revealing nothing.

Negi held his breath when he turned the last corner, a figure stood in front of the tsuwabuki, they did not weep, they did not grieve, and they simply stood there. Negi took a step forward, wondering who this stranger was. Masayoshi took a look at the dark clothes and gasped, "C-Connor?"

Masayoshi turned around, the fire immediately went out, he turned back to the fire and picked it up, the ash and carbon made a sort of drawing on the paper, but before anyone could see it, Masayoshi quickly shoved it into his book and turned to Negi, "It's Masayoshi dear Negi-boya."

-

Negi and Masayoshi walked through the school grounds, Negi telling everything that happened after his sudden leave while Masayoshi calmly listened and smiled as he examined the grounds all over again, "So then we made the exploding sock puppets and…"

Masayoshi held up a hand, cutting Negi short, "Tell me about this Connor guy. He seems like a decent enough fellow."

Negi stared at his feet, sadness overwhelming him, though he promised himself he wouldn't grieve… then a thought came to him, "Masayoshi! Y-you can do things normal mages can't right? That's what you told me before you left."

Masayoshi took his cap off, revealing thick black-grayish hair, it was long, still had that tight ponytail in the end jut like Negi's own. He stroked his hair and shook his head, to get his hair out of his eyes. Negi realized that his eyes were very dark, almost black. The he spoke, "I guess I'm no normal magi now am I Negi?" He patted his book and thought about all the new things he could do…

Negi shook his head and grabbed Masayoshi's free hand, "That's perfect!" Suddenly Masayoshi realized Negi was crying. "Please! Please bring back Asakura and Connor!"

Masayoshi sighed deeply saddened to hear such a request, "Negi… magic can only save so much… Connor and Asakura… they're far too gone…"

"W-what about Marie-san?"

"Actually that was just lucky." Masayoshi sweatdropped a bit.

Negi sighed, he touched his left breast pocket and pulled out a very fancy pocket watch, he held it in front of Masayoshi, tears in his eyes as he prepared to voice his last and only hope, "Masayoshi… this watch… it's-"

Masayoshi swiped the watch leaving Negi staring at the place where it once was, Masayoshi held the watch in one hand as his other reached into one of his pant's pockets. Negi was about to explain what it was, but gasped as Masayoshi pulled out an identical, if not older, pocket watch. Masayoshi nodded and smiled, "The famous time-watch Cassiopeia… yep…"

Realization hit Negi's mentality like a bullet train, "MASAYOSHI!"

Masayoshi took a step back, suddenly frightened, "What?"

Negi grabbed Masayoshi's arms with an iron grip, "You're from the future right!? That means you know everything that's going on!"

Masayoshi released himself from Negi's iron grip, "Actually bud, I came to this time period when I was six, and History class was a bit too complicated back then."

Negi stepped back, incredibly saddened. Masayoshi noticed this and spoke, "But you know… sometimes… people have a time to go… like when it's my time… you just can't stop it…"

Negi nodded; hope replacing the sadness in his heart, "But if I can just get the Cassiopeia to-"

Masayoshi nodded, "Of course… now you better head back to class before the girls realize you're gone."

Negi quickly ran off towards the school building, saying nothing thanks to a very useful spell on Masayoshi's part. Masayoshi smiled bitterly and stared at the ground and the tsuwabuki, _besides… sometimes you just can't bring back something that's meant to be lost…_

**-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**

_And here we have it; I'll leave it at a cliff-hanger. I know some of you are wondering what the hell I'm doing, splitting emotions like a frickin' butcher, but I'm afraid that this is here mostly as a wake-up call for ol' Serac! Of course I'll update it only with his consent. Please enjoy your day Serac Fans, and MMR fans, not that there's many, welcome to a new chapter of the Masayoshi Chronicles! Say hello to the sequel baby! I'm so excited! Oh and a note to Raedric, you didn't want The Dreamer to have a sequel and yet wanted my Screwed Up to have a sequel… so what do you think of this?_

Slight Translations/Explanations:

Connor – The most badass CO in all of the Negima! universe! I gave my CO some cool points just so that the two can be mentioned in the same story without Connor getting pissed.

Asakura's death – Man, you gotta read True Serac's The Dreamer! It's a great thing people!

Masayoshi's New Look – Everything's the same, just more mature-looking.

Masayoshi's smokes – Not really cigarettes, actually he'll explain it next chapter.

Life in a Bottle & this thing: This is not related to True Serac's real sequel! This is just a sort of AU, so please don't get confused alright? Nothing I do here relates to the real sequel, I just want to make a two unrelated sequels in one story. I do however; use some of his sequel writings on to my own for Serac's entertainment.


	2. Understanding the Problems

_Hmm... I really don't know what to say... but I must say that some of you guys really enjoy this, whereas for some reason I'm getting emails from people who think I'm stealing from Serac! Don't worry, I'll handle it, but please know this everyone, I'm doing this with Serac's permission, and I have his personal permission to use this, please do not message me at two in the morning and say, "Stop messing with True Serac's stuff!" or, "Don't steal!" or, "You suk! Dunt rite nomore!" ok so there wasn't the last one but the other two were true._

**Disclaimer: Negima! doesn't belong to me, neither does Connor, I do however own Masayoshi and half of this storyline.**

**-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**

**Messed Up**

Masayoshi sat cross-legged before the tsuwabuki, he was currently housing in the dilapidated tower. A number of odd objects lay strewn about his immediate area, ranging from incense to a turkey sandwich. Four candles were placed around the tsuwabuki, all of which were lit. A single oblong plate sat on a smooth rock near the middle of the tsuwabuki, in the plate was just silvery sand, in the sand sticking out in multiple angles were several sticks of incense, all of them were releasing wisps of smoke, like small fluttering ribbons reaching for the heavens. Masayoshi sat in front of the plate, his eyes closed, his black leather-bound book open to a random blank page, and his quill on the said page. Masayoshi's eyes fluttered open; he sighed and quickly wrote something on the paper. He stood up and snapped his fingers and the flames from the candles immediately went out, another snap of his fingers and the incense in the sand crumbled to more silver dust.

Negi stood at the entrance, staring at Masayoshi with wonder and amazement in his eyes. Masayoshi walked over to a table inside the tower and wolfed down the sandwich. He flipped through his book and sat down on the floor; his… dorm… was pretty much devoid of any comforts. He had his books, his pen, and his uniform. Nothing else was visible. Negi guessed that he must have been staying here ever since he showed up two days ago. Negi ran up to the seemingly normal high school boy, "Masayoshi-san!"

Masayoshi looked up, his glasses askew, "What do you need Negi-boya?"

Negi pointed at the girls' dorm, "I talked to Konoemon, he said you're allowed onto the school grounds!"

Masayoshi smiled, "Aren't I already on school grounds?"

Negi sweatdropped as he realized, that Masayoshi was, indeed, on school grounds, "Well… yeah… but you know, cause you're a wanted rouge and all… he said it would be risky… but I talked to him today and he said you'll be allowed on campus so long as you room in the dorms and you pose as my aide."

Masayoshi grabbed another sandwich from nowhere, "Really now? What makes you think I even want to be on school grounds?"

Negi scratched the back of his head, "Um… because you're here in the first place?"

Masayoshi nodded as he bit off another piece of he sandwich, "I suppose that's a reasonable hypothesis… but listen Negi… I can't bring them back no matter how much you want them to return…"

Negi bit his lip, "It's not just that…"

Masayoshi laughed, nearly choking on his sandwich, "I'm of no use to you other than that…" His voice became sad, "And even though I allow you to use my Cassiopeia, I highly advise you not to mess with the fabrics of time."

Negi stomped his feet on the ground, "You don't understand! Connor and Asakura… they left behind everything… they died when they didn't need to! They died because I made mistakes! I wasn't able to protect them!"

Masayoshi suddenly began to eat from an instant ramen bowl, "So… that's why you want them back?" He slurped quietly waiting for an answer.

Negi looked at his feet, "Anyway… I thought you'd just like someplace warm to sleep at night… and eat…" He watched as Masayoshi drank the soup from the bowl, "…normally…"

Masayoshi threw the cup in the air and snapped his fingers it exploded in a beautiful flower shape cloud and a slip of paper landed on Negi's head, Negi quickly grabbed it and read it, "I… accept… your… invite…. Bad luck today… do not approach the opposite sex." Negi sweatdropped as Masayoshi quickly gathered his things and jogged to the dorms, whistling.

Masayoshi knocked the door to a certain dorm room and stood with a smile, his smile began to falter, however, when the door did not open. Hey knocked a bit harder, adding a, "Hey girls!" to the combo. Eventually, incredibly discouraged, he turned around with a deep sigh, preparing himself to head back to that tower. He ,however, did not expect to get tackled by a mess of pink hair and purple uniforms.

His attacker, in unison, screamed out in joy, "Wan-wan-san!"

-

Masayoshi sat down at a small table, beside him, with her head resting on his shoulder, was a very happy Fumika, on his other side was Fuka, she was leaning on his other shoulder. Masayoshi felt very odd…

The girls were talking to him, it's almost like they were desperate for some attention. Fuka closed her eyes, "… so then he must have returned home… he never even said goodbye… I think Kaede-sensei took it hard though…"

Fumika nodded, rustling Masayoshi's collar, "Yeah… after you left wan-wan-kun… she was sent into a different room, so we didn't get to see her as much… I heard she was in the same room as Connor"

Masayoshi silently grabbed a cup of hot tea that was set before him, "Did she like this Connor guy?"

Fuka and Fumika looked at each other and laughed, "Kaede-san doesn't like anybody! But… Connor-sensei was pretty cool… Kaede might have…"

Fumika gasped as she looked at an alarm clock on the desk, a very odd-looking alarm clock that Masayoshi just couldn't put his finger on, "Ah! 5:00! Hakase is supposed to call us about that test thirty minutes ago!"

Fuka laughed as she began to dose off, "I think she has a good reason for not calling… I seen her and Negi-kun at the World Tree a few days ago…"

Fumika put on a mock sad face, "Oh… I can't believe Hakase beat us to his heart… well at least we have wan-wan-kun back!"

Masayoshi smiled delicately as both girls eventually fell asleep on his arms. He sat there in silence, _Negi has been secretly meeting this Hakase girl at that magical tree aye? Suppose this is that genius girl that invented the Cassiopeia? But that could only mean… _Masayoshi's eyes widened as he put together the facts.

**-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**

_Yet another cliff-hanger… I must say that only the first few will be like this. I'm still that happy-go-lucky guy you all know and love! I just have to put together that tragedy of Serac's and my crazy thing together and well, kind of like mixing oil and water, natural opposites, but with enough stirring it'll mix together, for a time._

Slight Translations/Explanations:

Tch, nothing to really explain guys.


	3. Death Seals our Fate

_I've always would get to the dreaded meeting first, me or True Serac, I guess I win that part, however short-lived._

_Dum… dum… dum… I have returned… Hehe, guess who's better? I am! _

**Disclaimer: Negima! doesn't belong to me, neither does Connor, I do however own Masayoshi and half of this storyline.**

**-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**

**Messed Up**

Masayoshi was running. No he was sprinting. No, he was flying over the grounds of Mahora. With every step his brain worked faster, the faster he went, the faster he realized the absolute foolery that Negi was about to do. He burst through the forest path, he knew that if he could just go a bit faster… he might just be able to save… save no one… no… he would save thousands… His book whipped around on his back as he ran, it slapped against his already straining ribs, but that didn't falter him, his pen being bounced around in his pocket, with an occasional stab to the tender skin. Even this did not falter him.

-

Negi stood staring at the World Tree. Beside him was Hakase, smiling brightly. Negi turned to Hakase, tears glimmering in his eyes, "Thank you… without you… I wouldn't be able to save… them."

Hakase waved off the compliment, though in the inside she was screaming in joy, "No problem Negi-sensei, all I had to do was take that other watch and just combine the mainframe to the equilibrium so that the external power source would easily combine with your magic and thus work at a diligent pace with less percentage of failure! Using the core in the new watch you can go an entire week in time without using the tree! I still wonder where you found it!"

Negi rubbed the back of his head and gave an enbarressed laugh, "Yeah about that…"

Hakase waved it off as well, "No matter Negi, all in the name of science right? So anyway, I advise that right about now would give you the best signal to take you in time alright?"

Negi bowed to Hakase and turned the dial on the Cassiopeia, he looked up at the World Tree once more, and then a brilliant light enveloped him. Negi felt himself get lefted into the air. And then, by what Hakase could see, he vanished.

"NO!" Hakase abruptly turned around to see a very frantic-looking High school boy run at an incredible speed towards the spt Negi was standing a mere few seconds before. He suddenly ran up to where Negi was standing, the few wisps of light, like stranded fireflies were all that was left, the boy suddenly took out a quill and slashed it vertically in the air, a sort of rift opened up and the boy dived in. Then Hakase blinked.

-

Masayoshi felt the air around him… he sniffed, _smells like… blood…_ He opened one eye, and found himself looking into the dull, lifeless eyes of a young man; Masayoshi jumped up and shuffled away, a look of horror on his face. He put a hand on his chest to calm himself, while doing so he examined the man before him… He was indeed young… also indeed dead. Masayoshi's hand twitched towards his book. He shook his head, the man was killed by magic, he was killed for a good reason as well… Masayoshi's eyes fell on a jagged knife in the man's hand. He stood up and immediately fell back down when he hit rock. "Argh, shit! Am I in a tunnel?" After taking another quick look at his surroundings he found that he was. After moments of grumbling he began to crawl, he crawled over the man's body, he passed countless others, and the only thing in his mind was to stop Negi.

-

Connor looked at Negi then back to the lifeless body of Asakura, she was on the couch, a large black sword pierced through her chest, blood trickling from her mouth, her shirt drenched crimson with her lifeblood. Connor shook his head as Negi explained what he's done. Even after he was finished Connor shook his head, "NO! I was supposed to die damn it! Negi! People die when they're supposed to! You don't just interfere with things intertwined with fate or… or-" Masayoshi appeared behind Negi as Connor dropped to his knees.

Negi spun around feeling Masayoshi's presence, 'Masayoshi! I don't remember you being here! What's going on?"

Masayoshi grimaced as he looked around the room, from the blurred shadow on the couch, the panicking Connor, to the oblivious Negi. Masayoshi shook his head and grabbed Negi by the shoulders, "Negi… fate can't be messed with… what you've done… it…"

Negi shook his head slightly, "But you did…"

Masayoshi smiled very weakly, "I do, but I'm not entwined with fate like all of you guys, I don't exist, I'm just a passing shadow… and I have permission! But if you do something and affect have Connor like this the consequences would be disastrous…" Masayoshi's hands passed through Negi's shoulders as he slowly vanished. Masayoshi wasn't surprised, the reason he even went to the past was obliterated. Negi's mission was completed, and Masayoshi's has jus begun.

Connor looked up at Masayoshi, "What are you doing here…" He was speaking weakly, _of course he is, _Masayoshi thought, _he probably knows what's going to happen._

Masayoshi shrugged, "I tried to make sure you died, tied to make sure negi failed… but I'm afraid I'm too late…" Masayoshi sat down on a destroyed pillar, and sighed deeply, "You know... I should probably kill you and pray no one knows the better."

Connor lifted his chin up in defiance as Masayoshi made a large two-handed sword appear in mid-air, "You plan to kill me then?" Connor had an itching feeling it would come down to this… but it's the best choice he's got.

Masayoshi looked at the blade, "I guess I re-" but he couldn't finish his sentence since a large machete suddenly found its way into his ribs. He looked at the blade and looked up at his attacker. He met with cold gray eyes and a smirk. Masayoshi felt cold, and fell to the ground, a look of surprise and a bit of remorse in his eyes. With a shuddering breath, he moved no more, his lips curled in an eternal frown.

Connor quickly turned to Masayoshi's assailant, "What the hell!?"

Sho yanked back on the chain, the machete came out of Masayoshi's side with a grotesque sound and clattered on the stone ground before shooting back up into Sho's outstretched hand, "I'm just making sure everything goes as planned." He looked at the machete, nodded, and jumped back into the shadows, as though he were never there. Before Connor could get up and rip off the head of the bastard's head Negi and Ku Fei ran into the room. Connor looked at Masayoshi's body and began to wonder why he didn't disappear with Negi… then he realized that maybe he never had a future. Nobody noticed his body among all the others.

-

Connor looked at the face of Negi, him and Ku Fei were simply talking to each other, they were talking to him too, but he never realized that. The future Negi said something about people missing him, people that he left behind with questions, and something about… Ku Fei loving him… He snorted a bit, _she's far too young to really love me, she's just attracted to my badass-ness and the truth that she'll never really get me. Maybe If I actually say the words… she might just…_ Connor looked up and sweatdropped to find him being the only occupant, or the only original occupant.

A young blonde-haired girl sat in front of him with a cream soda float. She happily drank the soda from a crazy straw, looking like she didn't even know Connor was sitting in front of her. Connor suddenly felt a deep sympathy for the girl, there was something wrong with her… he just didn't know what…

"I don't want your sympathy, just your time." Connor blinked, the girl suddenly became very business-like, "My name is Elia, Elia Hitodama."

Connor was taken aback for a moment, but then pointed at her face, "You mean to tell me you're related to that Masayoshi guy?"

The girl snorted, "Like hell, it's just an alias damn it."

Connor began to sense something very irregular about the girl, "You mean that Masayoshi isn't his real name?"

The girl took a swallow of the soda, "Mrmph… Um…" she put a finger to her chin, a universal symbol of 'I'm thinking so shut up', "I think it's his real name… at least that's what everyone calls him."

Connor looked down at the table, "You do know he's… um dead right?" Masayoshi's swift death still fresh in his mind, apparently Connor was so taken aback with all of the other death to even shed a tear for the mage that came to save him from being damned.

Elia looked up a smirk on her face, "Masayoshi can't die."

Connor's eyes began to grow wide, he thought about what Masayoshi said the future Negi back at the messiah's throne room, he stood up, slamming his fist on the table, "What the hell is he!?" His brain was processing everything he's seen in the last few months, Masayoshi doing things he's never seen any mage ever do, was he possibly…

Elia put her elbow on the table and rested her head on the palm of her hand, "They call him… Hell's Fire. You know what that is right? How about an Angel of Death? A messenger from hell."

Connor began to shake; suddenly he wished he was a bit more religious, "Do you mean to say he's… a messenger of god?"

Elia laughed, it was a light-hearted, how a young girl should laugh, "Oh heaven's no… he's not even that religious. He's known as an Angel of Death, he's here in the past to fix whatever those old geezers in the future tell him to fix, and it usually ends up with someone dead so that they don't do something in the future. Kind of what he was supposed to do a few months ago… he always screws it up though, that and him using that god damn magical history book of his… he thinks he can solve anything…"

One of Connor's eye brows rose automatically, "History… book?"

"Yeah… why do you look so dumbfounded, he's not a divine spirit, he's just a class C future fixer… when I said he can't die, I didn't mean he can't actually die, I just meant he's not allowed to."

Connor shook his head, it began to hurt, and a voice was breaking into his thoughts, _it's about time we have a talk Connor, meet me outside._

Elia sighed, "Yeah, that's how he knows were to be at what time, you know that big black leather-bound book? He's a fricking time mage; put that through your thick skull… all of us time mages are supposed to have a history book, it's sort of like how you guys have wands or something… same rules apply…"

Connor began to walk away, fed up with these damn surprises of his life… or what should have been his death. He knew where to go, and this time he wouldn't mess things up, there was only one thing in his mind, he was going to save Asakura. By any means necessary.

**-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**

_What? Why aren't you reviewing!? Oh… you're pissed about Masayoshi's death? Oh relax, you heard what Elia said, he's not allowed to die!_

Slight Translations/Explanations:

Tch, nothing to really explain guys.


	4. Everyting Happens for a Reason

_Well first thing off, rogue is rogue not rouge, thanks everyone, my Word obviously didn't catch it! I postponed myself-imposed exile that every author has to take for some reason for about another week, The JSDF are usually quite lax with me, they understand my needs. I'm writing from an onboard terminal located near my plane, if you're wondering why I'm taking off, too bad! Don't worry I have an electrical converter to change it, so I'll be constantly writing, if not a bit slowly._

**Disclaimer: Negima! doesn't belong to me, neither does Connor, I do however own Masayoshi and half of this storyline.**

**-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**

**Messed Up**

Masayoshi groaned, he sat up in a sitting position, his face twisted with pain. His left hand clutched his right side, a bloody mess. His right hand was on the ground, keeping him steady. He groaned and looked at the bodies all over the place. He shook his head, _ugh… not allowed to die… not allowed to die…_ suddenly, from the far wall corridor, there was a flickering light, Masayoshi's been around candle's enough to know that it was a small simple candle, someone was lighting their way to this hellhole. Masayoshi, wincing in pain, stood up, his left hand still covering his wound, and in his right hand materialized a large, glowing, white sword. Of course when he raised it over his head, he accidentally hit the ceiling, which in part caused a rather large rock to fall and crash down on his head. Masayoshi was out cold, the sword slowly faded out of existence along with Masayoshi's consciousness.

Connor peered into the corridor, everything appeared like he left it, if not more gruesome when it was illuminated by one simple candle. The shadows created large pools of inky darkness. The candle revealed corpses that were once hidden. Connor walked toward the opposite tunnel, avoiding the couch at all costs and found the body he was looking for; Masayoshi's. He stared intently at the motionless body, he felt absolutely nothing. _Weird, I thought I would at least feel pity for the guy who died trying to keep me from being damned. _He truly didn't know much about Masayoshi, he was just some guy, someone that just got caught up at the wrong time. Connor kneeled down and picked up the black book. _This is a history book?_ Connor opened to a random page, it was blank. Connor blinked, then, like a spiderweb, writing appeared. At first Connor didn't know what it said, but as his eyes began to get used to the spidery penmanship, he realized the actual title of the chapter. **Mahora Gakuen, Connor's Death** then, sitting down on a destroyed pillar, he began to read.

-

Masayoshi began to stir, but Connor never noticed, he was still reading. Masayoshi actually sat up and cracked his back before Connor realized he was there. Connor stared at him, eyes wide, "What are you…"

Masayoshi noticed he had the book and plucked it out of Connor's rigid hands. He looked at the page he was on, "I'm just a nice guy that's got a call from the future saying something bad happened because back in blah blah blah… I'm pretty much just a guy that wants to help you." Masayoshi stood up and dusted of his clothes, apparently forgetting he just got mortally stabbed in the side.

Connor looked at the book, with one shaky hand he pointed, "So that's a history book of Mahora?"

Masayoshi stared at him and laughed, "Oh dear god no! What? It was one to you? That's interesting… this book is designed to be whatever book you want it to be, I guess you wanted it to be a history book from the future. All I see is a good magic book."

Connor shook his head, "It said I was killed here by an anonymous man. But I'm still alive… It also said Blaze is lost forever. You… are never mentioned."

Masayoshi laughed, "You still don't get it do you? I'm just a shadow, never truly existing, but still there. I'm just not documented."

Connor stopped suddenly feeling a horrid chill creep up his spine, he turned around, the lights seemed to all fade out, to only be replaced by an unfathomable darkness. Then he appeared.

The stranger appeared from apparently nowhere, as he walked toward Connor his blue cloak, almost black, shifted from side to side, revealing dark clothes underneath. The person's face seemed quite normal, not too old, yet in one way, he seemed unearthly, as though he were a walking statue of marble. His dark eyes were slanted, appearing to be forever intent in looking for something. His dirty brown hair covered his eyes, ever time it did he took one of those pale hands and swept it away. In a matter of seconds he was a mere foot away from Connor. The stranger looked behind Connor, possibly at Masayoshi, then turned back to Connor, unfazed. "Hello Connor."

Connor shifted slightly and crossed his arms over his chest, "I see you still enjoy these entrances."

The stranger made no reply, apparently ignoring the question, "You do know why I'm here right?"

"Probably to kill me, everyone else seems to want to." Connor replied coldly, he made a slight gesture to the mage behind him.

The person shook his head, "No not really, I'm here to warn you that it is impossible for you to save a soul lost in that way, impossible. Even I cannot bring back something lost to fate."

Connor began to shake, "But she shouldn't have died like that! It was my fault! I swear I'll find her!"

Masayoshi, apparently not lost in the conversation, and also seemingly unfazed that the stranger just suddenly appeared out of apparently nowhere, putting a dirtied hand on Connor's shoulder. Connor suddenly felt as though Masayoshi's mysterious inner strength flow into him through his hand, Connor stopped shaking. Masayoshi spoke in a voice unlike his own, a voice unlike his usual happy, devil-may-care, free-for-all voice, "It appears that the reason you want Asakura's soul returned… is the same reason Negi wanted you back, you blame the fault entirely on yourself. Don't."

The stranger looked at Masayoshi, the spectacled boy winked. The stranger shook his head, "The boy is right. The fault lays entirely upon the girl, the actions that she took led to her death. The only part you took… was letting her take that last step."

Connor glared, "Not helping Serac"

Serac shrugged, giving a ghost of a smile, "I'm just giving you the facts."

-

Masayoshi and Connor silently trudged up to the dorms. Connor was silent for the most part, looking at his feet. Masayoshi limped slightly, noticing Connor's depression, he smiled and looked at him, "What were you expecting when you came down to the messiah's room?"

Connor didn't look at Masayoshi, but he answered, "I was expecting a dead body, and your book. I only found the book."

Masayoshi smirked, "Why did you want my book?"

Connor shrugged, "I remember something Negi said, something about a black book that could do miracles."

Masayoshi laughed, "Miracles? Is that what he calls this thing?" he motioned to his left side, his book giving off a visible aura of icy chillness. "I'd rather call it a very deadly weapon, something that reveals whatever you want to see… only the choice few know what is really written in it."

Connor looked at the book, "For real, what are you?"

Masayoshi coughed, "Well I'm really a uh… I guess I'm a student for… no wait… I'm a futuristic… no… I'm a… test subject for… hold on…" Masayoshi began to try to sort fact from fiction.

Connor waved off the question, "Never mind I get it now, you're just some magical school student that got caught up with it right? No need to lie to me… I guess we're on the same side…"

Masayoshi sighed in relief, he put a hand on Connor's shoulder, "Asakura _can _be saved, I promise you that. It might take me some time, it might kill me in the end, but I assure you, I can save her."

Connor looked at Masayoshi and then at the rising moon, "Now that I think about it, Serac always said things happen for a reason… he never lies… and he never said anything about you bringing her back… the only thing is…how?"

Masayoshi winced, "Never ask how, only ask when. That way it has to happen." Then Masayoshi smiled, and patted him on the back once before moving towards the dorms. Connor stared up at the sky, then began to shiver realizing that him and Masayoshi just had one of those weird out of character moments.

**-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**

_No they won't be chummy chummy like this all the time, I just needed that moment to verify a few things. 1) Connor has no idea what Masayoshi's past is, and in a manner of speaking, he really doesn't care. 2) Masayoshi's past is almost as crazy as mine, nobody understands, nobody cares. 3) Serac is trying to assure Connor that what they're doing is impossible, Masayoshi, being the optimist, believes he can still do it. 4) I think I need a few more girls in the story… remember that this is based off of True Serac's first story so that means… oh yes, everyone's favorite, way too overused pair will make time in the story, just guess who!?! Well I have to catch my flight, everything still works in Japan… I hope. If I can't get anything on my yahoo, which I doubt will happen, all answer everything in one month from now! Bye!_

Slight Translations/Explanations:

Plot – Connor wants to save Asakura's soul, Masayoshi, for some reason, wishes to help, Serac will constantly tail them and warn them that it won't work, eventually it'll get more light and happier. Just guess how these guys will get along in the next few chapters!


	5. New Teacher

_Shh… don't let them find me! I'm typing this all for you guys! That and it's raing horribly down here so all I can do is type this story, this chapter is filled with the lessons of love! Defiance! Slight crushes! A new Teacher! ESP! A fierce attack! Wow, sounds like a bloody drama. Well I hope you guys enjoy my longest chapter. May the drip drop of the rain bring you inspiration._

**Disclaimer: Negima! doesn't belong to me, neither does Connor, I do however own Masayoshi and half of this storyline.**

**-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**

**Messed Up**

Connor leaned back on the chair, he was absolutely bored… but of course, with boredom, comes a sort of extrasensory perception that most humans have, in this case Connor noted other people's feelings. Negi was just rambling on and on about some English book by some old English man, so most of the girls were reflecting on inner problems.

Fuka and Fumika appeared somewhat sad, Connor shrugged it off, he heard that they were close to Masayoshi, and when he suddenly disappeared last night, even Connor began to worry, but then he thought the reason Masayoshi vanished was because the reason he was in the "past" was nullified and so he simply didn't exist there. Connor's head began to spin from trying to figure out how the space-time continuum and how the present and future inter-relate…

Next was that Evangeline girl, for some reason she didn't give off quite as much of an aura of pure evil, for some reason, flickering from somewhere behind her eyes, was a hint of absolute fear. Connor suddenly felt somewhat grave; _oh forget er, she's just freaking us out…_

Lastly, and definitely not the least, was dear Ku Fei, she was staring at Connor, and because Connor didn't want to just stare at her, he used a very useful tool of the trade, cool guys always examine girls, no one knows why, but they do. So this is wha he did, he first off took his chin by the hand and twisted his neck, just to pop the tendons, when he did this, using the corner of his eye, he examined Ku Fei. And he definitely wished he didn't, although on the outside, she simply appeared to be staring at Connor, but when Connor looked in he eyes, he realized he made some mistakes… her eyes were somewhat blurred, a sign that she might have been crying, then replacing that sadness, was confusion and anger. Connor quickly thought up of an excuse to leave the room, then the bell rang.

Negi blinked. Ku Fei, who was just moments ago, sitting calmly at her seat, was suddenly by an unconscious Connor, no wait, he's still conscious but barely hanging on. Negi shook his head, dumbfounded, Ku Fei must have somehow moved faster than the naked eye could follow her… and she must have punched Connor… hard.

Connor found himself on the floor .001 seconds after the bell rng, he didn't feel any pain at all… until he realized his nose was bleeding. "Argh!" he grabbed his nose, it wasn't broken, but it sure didn't feel any better. Most of the girls walked past him with looks of pity, some were looking at him like it was going to be the last time they'll see him on the face of the planet. A fresh wave of fear came over Connor, he realized that the note he left with Ku Fei probably sounded a little odd… but then a small voice of relief echoed in his head, _don't worry! Negi-kun's here, she can't kill you with him watching._ Connor turned to Negi's desk in hope and sweatdropped, Negi wasn't there. The door closed, but before it was completely shut, Connor caught a glimpse of red and black hair. Connor shakily got up on his feet, holding his hands before him like it could calm down the fuming, heart-broken, confused girl in front of him, "Now Sunshine… I can explain everything…" amazingly he sounded normal despite the steady flow of blood coming out of his nose.

Ku Fei cracked her knuckles, "Not when I done with you."

-

Negi walked along side some of the girls, "So where are you heading to next?"

Natsumi held a finger to her chin, "Um… I have to go to the new science class…"

Asuna looked at Natsumi funny, "New? What's that supposed to mean?"

Natsumi smiled, "I heard there was a new science teacher, so I decided to sign up for him, I hear he's young, he's younger than Connor-sensei I think. Some of the older girls say he's cute, he's got dark hair… and he smiles a lot… and he wears the same kind of glasses Negi-kun does."

Kaede smiled, "Sounds dreamy."

Natsumi flushed a deep red, "W-well that's not the reason I'm going of course! I hear he's really eccentric, so I thought it would be a nice class to go to. The only problem is I don't know too many of the girls in that class…"

Negi laughed, "You don't have to worry Natsumi-san, I'm sure you'll make friends in no time."

Asuna shrugged, "Is it an advanced class? Or is it for people that don't understand?"

Natsumi shook her head, "No, it's like pre-chemistry, I decided to go towards chemistry instead of biology."

Negi smiled, "I didn't know you liked chemistry!"

Natsumi giggled, "I don't, but I hate biology even more."

-

Ku Fei closed the door silently, she felt much better, she even heard the reason of why Connor was staying… she didn't know whether he liked her or not anymore… _Am I boring? Am I plain? _She passed a mirror in the hall, she looked at her reflection intently, _maybe need bigger-_

"Ku Fei!" Chao was waving over to her from their next class, she put her hands to her mouth and created a sort of "hand-made" megaphone, "Hurry up or you'll be late!"

Ku Fei looked at her reflection one last time and jogged over to the class.

-

Connor survived, he was a mess, but he was alive. He didn't even move, he simply laid there on his back, feeling the horrid bruises on his body… but he accomplished what he had to do. He had to bluntly lie in the face of his favorite student, but it worked… she didn't punch him at the speed of mach five when he was explaining. He put a shaky hand on his forehead, _ugh… I think she bruised my brain…_ he finally got up, using his chair as a stable position. He looked at a mirror and smiled, not a bruise on his face or visible part of his body, "Good ol' Ku Fei, I don't look too bad…"

-

Natsumi sat down in the front of class, she felt like a kindergartener in here, all of the other girls were either about to graduate from junior high, or are high school girls. She looked around, most of the girls were either very pretty, or on the border of super hot. She looked down at herself, imagining what she was on the border of, _probably on the border of plain or "oh you're a girl?"_, she began to wish she didn't come into this class. The teacher will accidentally think she's too young, or if he really is that young, ogle at the others instead of trying to help.

As she sunk lower into her seat, the teacher walked in, Natsumi didn't look at him, she just wanted this class to be over quickly and transfer back to her biology class… then she felt a tapping on her arm, she looked up somewhat embaressed, _here it comes… he's going to ask me if I'm in the right class…_ but she almost gaped when her eyes met his, _I know this guy… I think._

The teacher smiled, it was a very pleasant smile, very contagious. His dark eyes seemed to be warm and twinkling behind his small glasses, his hair was bound back in a small ponytail, similar to Negi's. Instead of the brown suits most male teachers wore, he wore something similar to a Persian Military uniform; in Japan they called it a high school gakuran. He seemed no older than most of the high school girls in class, but he gave off an air of knowledge only gained through age. He seemed like a very very nice person; in his left hand was a black book. _Is that his teacher's manual?_

The teacher smiled, "Hi there, ready for class?"

Natsumi found herself nodding, and surprisingly smiling. All thoughts of dropping this class vanished along with her sadness.

The teacher nodded and went up to his desk, he faced the class and put his hands behind his back, and then in a smooth voice he began to talk, "Welcome to Chemistry Class! I'm your teacher, you can all call me Masayoshi!"

-

Connor ran, oh he was running fast, he was practically flying over the ground, he had twelve seconds before gym class began, he slid on the floor, giving his the time to turn his body as he was propelled toward the corner, then like an Olympic speed skater, he raced down the hall, he could see the doors leading to the gym sector, oh he could make it if he… Connor, his face filled with determination, dived through the doors, he landed on the ground with a loud thud, .12 seconds after impact the bell rang, he jumped up and thrust his fist towards the heavens, "YES!"

Half of the girls began to giggle, the other girls smiled as he dusted off his clothes, obviously proud of making it perfectly on time.

-

Konoka yawned as they reached the temple. Setsuna observed the area, _leave it to Ojou-sama to find the creepiest place to stay…_ she looked at Konoka. Konoka was sleepy, but looked very happy. Setsuna fixed her gaze straight ahead, becoming rigid, _if she's happy with this, so will I._

Konoka sighed as the pair finally reached the gleaming arch, she turned to Setsuna and smiled weakly, "I know it's not much, but this is a great place to stay, the monk that lives here is an old friend of my grandpa. I'll warn you though, my grandfather's friend is an exorcist and so the things that happen could seem a bit… odd."

Setsuna shrugged, "I'm sure he can't be all that bad."

Then suddenly a man jumped down from the arch, he dived down toward the two girls, Setsuna, her abilities as good as ever, grabbed Konoka and gently threw her out of danger's way. As the man hit the ground, a ring of dust flew up, he suddenly pulled out a yari from apparently nowhere and swiped at Setsuna, she jumped back allowing the blade at the end to harmlessly whiz a few inches away from her. She took advantage of the unorthodox movement of the yari and charged forward her sword unsheathed. The attacking man, as well trained as Setsuna, turned the spear towards the ground and in a swift movement pushed off of the spear and flung himself into the air. Setsuna slashed only air, she was only confused for a moment, but in that moment the assailant revealed a large Nodachi, as he came back down, Setsuna dived out of the way, allowing the blade to strike the ground and bury itself three inches deep. Setsuna put one hand on the ground and her sword resting on her back, she pushed off her hand and in a single fluid movement slashed upward, tearing the attacker in half. Unfortunately for her, the man knew what was to happen, he moved so quickly he actually stripped himself of his cloak revealing white cloth tightly wrapped across his chest multiple times, creating a thick padding, on top of this he wore a strap of leather as armor. His legs were covered with the same white cloth, strapped by leather like a belt and some as cuffs near his ankles. Around his head was similar white cloth, held only by a medallion, revealing only his eyes, giving the man a sort of Arabian/ninja looking get-up. Of course in Japan, this would be traditional wear for a monk in times of war. He kicked the yari into his hand, holding the butt of it to the ground, pointing the tip at Setsuna in a mocking fashion.

Setsuna glared, from what happened in Mahora, it would be normal to expect the cultist to still be around, like any wiped out cult, there are always some who remain steady and ready to reemerge if need be. The man appeared to be smirking, his eyes glinting.. Setsuna suddenly felt a fresh wave of anger wash over her, _he's mocking me!_ Setsuna held the sword point in his direction and cocked her head, a silent way of saying, "Bring it."

The monk jumped into the air, this is something Setsuna didn't expect. He held the point of the blade toward her head, Setsuna had one choice, she arched her back backward, the man passed overhead, the blade grazing her shirt. She didn't however come back up, she actually turned around, one leg leaving the ground, the other pivoting to face the man, she put one hand on the ground, as to balance, she brought the other leg, the one not on the ground, to her opposite side, in this way she was facing the man again, with one hand on the ground she picked up a handful of dirt and threw it into the man's face, he was momentarily blinded, she knew this, she thrust forward, she didn't care whether he survived or not, he dies for the act he tried to do tonight. It pierced his chest, she knew no one could survive this. In that one moment she realized she was tricked, the chest was too hard, no amount of muscle could make a chest as solid as a trunk of an oak. She felt the cold steel of a blade touch the back of her neck, she actually sighed, this was the second time she's been beat, she overdoes one thing and her opponent turns the table, first it was the exorcist in Mahora, now this one.

The monk, with his free hand, removed the face portion of the cloth, revealing that he was actually a she. The monk had long colorless hair, it was tousled and messy, but in that way it suited her face. She had light green eyes and her smiling face seemed to be radiant in the dark. She removed the point of the small dagger from Setsuna's neck, then turning back to Konoka she laughed, it was quiet and airy, "You have a wonderful bodyguard Konoka-kun, she's well trained." Konoka ran up and hugged her. Setsuna was confused, then a thought hit her,"Is this your grandfather's friend!?"

Konoka nodded, "Yeah, why? What were you expecting?"

Setsuna fumbled with the words, "An old… er a… an old… some old monk or something!"

The monk smiled, "I'm not that old, not really a monk either, I'm just an exorcist, name's Jennifer Destine, you can call me J.D if you like."

-

"So then when you add the chemical compound to this base, you get blue!" Masayoshi held the vial over the top of a boiling cup of clear liquid.

Natsumi looked at her book then back to Masayoshi, repeat. As the chemical compound began to leave the container she yelled out, "Masayoshi-sensei! Don't-!" Suddenly the vial's contents gurgled once as the compound poured in.

Masayoshi looked at her, his face contorted in puzzlement, "What do you mean?" he looked at the vial in fear, "Did I do some-…" The vial began to gurgle and shake, "Hit the deck!" The vial turned blue, only for a moment, Natsumi was the only one who seen it, but then she realized that her position in the front of the class would leave her very vulnerable to the exploding vial. When she realized this she sweat-dropped wondering how expensive it would be to get shards of glass out of her face. Then she felt herself get tackled to the ground, a body covering her own, a hand protectively hovering over her head. Then she flinched as the vial exploded overhead. The weight over her body slowly lifted up, she peered around cautiously, she began to flush a deep red when she realized Masayoshi was the one protecting her.

Natsumi quickly grabbed her books, and helped Masayoshi up to his feet. She noticed he held his left arm behind his back, and had his left eye shut tightly, but that didn't falter his smile at all. Masayosi smiled, "Are you OK?"

Natsumi nodded quickly, "I am, thanks to you. Are you OK thought sensei?"

Masayoshi grimaced, "No need to call me sensei, I'm only a few years older than you. And I'm perfectly fine." He turned and opened the door, "Hey girls! It's safe now!" As though he said the magic word, thirty hormone-driven girls ran over their new teacher with cries of, "Oh my gosh! Are you alright!?" and other various screams of concern. Natsumi smiled, hugging her books tenderly.

**-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**

_No doubt this is my longest chapter, I rarely do long chapters, but this one felt right… don't expect much more though my friends. Not much of an author's note here though except I'll be back in the states sooner than you may think, it appears that certain shrines aren't so easily accessible as we thought. Well I hope you guys like it, you know how much I enjoy reviews so please give me some! No really, review or I'm going to stop with the writing. Na, I'll write no matter what, but please review or I'll do something like five reviews per chapter for the next one._

Slight Translations/Explanations:

Nodachi- simply put, a really big sword.

Yari- In layman's terms, a spear; pretty much yeah.

Review Note- I'm depressed, people review everyone's story so much, I know I'm not the best writer out there, but even terrible authors need reviews to become better, may I remind you that I live for my story reviews! Please Review! Not trying to brainwash you by saying review a bunch of times...REVIEW!


	6. In the Belly of the Beast

_Almost going to make it! A full night… all for you guys! This is how much you mean to me! Listen to the raindrops for your dreams to come to you._

**Disclaimer: Negima! doesn't belong to me, neither does Connor, I do however own Masayoshi and half of this storyline.**

**-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**

**Messed Up**

Shizuna Minamoto sat with her legs crossed on a slim swivel chair, her only patient in the room was a young bespectacled teacher, he just came from up north to be a student teacher, but when the position was already filled by Connor, Konoemon Konoe, being the odd Dean, hired the boy as an actual science teacher. Shizuna-sensei's eyes twinkled behind her glasses as she examined the boy, she smiled, "Please remove your shirt."

Masayoshi's eyes grew as wide as saucers, "H-hey lady, I just need my arm fixed nothing else!"

Shizuna-sensei pulled out a medical chart, "I'll fix that immediately, but I need to make sure everything else in your body is working correctly, so I need you to remove your shirt."

Masayoshi swallowed, he looked down at his black clothes and then to the highly alluring woman in front of him. Masayoshi shook his head, then slowly he removed his shirt, revealing a very damaged body. Burns covered most of his torso, on his side was a rather large bandage, his entire left arm was cut and bleeding in several places, other than that he seemed fine.

Shizuna looked at Masayoshi and sighed, "I believe this may take a while…"

-

Connor held the whistle to his lips and blew, the shrill sound soon followed. The gym class of 3A stopped running their warm up laps. Connor sighed and scratched his head, "Alright then! Good run! Now what shall we do?"

Most of the girls voted on volleyball, but everyone else was heavily divided, Connor nodded, looking like he was thinking then raised a single hand, like the hand of a judge about to give the go for an execution. He brought it down in a chopping motion and yelled, "Free Time!" the girls all cheered and scattered about, some weren't even doing things gym related, but Connor wasn't worried about it, he knew none of the girls would use this time inappropriately. And more importantly, he didn't feel like making the girls do something, he just wanted them to relax today, a little gift so he remains their favorite teacher, although this new mystery teacher is very popular among his more older students.

His cell phone began to ring, Connor, with a look of puzzlement across his face, went over to the entrance and answered the call, leaning on the wall, "Yo."

"Meet me at that Mahora Library Island right now; I have an interesting proposition for you."

Connor actually looked at the phone, as though he could tell who was calling by staring at where the voice came from, "What are you talking about? Library Island got destroyed a while back."

The voice on the other side paused, "It is?"

Connor shook his head his eyes drooping in exasperation, "Yeah."

The voice sounded like it was speaking to a child, "Then what's this place?"

Connor looked out and sweatdropped, there, just on the border of his line of sight, was towering the towering Library, his darted toward the nearest Library Trio he could find and managed to bark out, "How the hell did that thing get rebuilt!?"

Nodoka looked at him in surprise and a hint of fear, "T-the construction team n-near Mahora are very g-good…"

Connor growled and turned his attention back to the receiver, shooing Nodoka with his hand, "Well than who the hell are you!?"

The voice on the other line giggled, a sure sign of feminine-ness, "All will be answered in due time Connor dear, all in good time…"

Before the caller could hang up Connor shouted at the phone, "Hold it!"

A pause, then an uneasy sound came through, "What?"

Connor looked at his class, "What do I do with my class?"

The voice on the line obviously did not expect such a question, "…um… I guess you can bring them with you."

"Well what do I tell them then?"

"… um… tell them you're going to study in the library about Newton's Laws… does that work?"

Connor sweatdropped, "… no. This is a gym class."

"Well think of something." The caller hung up, obviously irritated.

-

Connor looked at his watch, them he sat down, becoming very aggravated that no figure, shrouded in the shadows, came up to him and tell him some random information. While he was looking at his wristwatch with annoyance, he never noticed that someone sat in front of him until the said person tapped him on the shoulder.

Connor looked up and his face broke into a smile, "Hey Negi."

Negi sat back down, a cheerful smile on his lips, "What's with that face Connor-san? You look pretty upset. That and I was wondering why are all of the girls here in their gym clothes."

Connor sighed, then he opened his mouth to lie bluntly in his face, "Well I just thought that…" then he looked at Negi, _this is the kid that went to the past to keep your heart ticking, he's a dependable ally… _he put his hands together and lowered his head, his eyes locking onto Negi's, "I received a call just a few minutes ago, someone wants to talk to me… I don't know who…"

Negi's eyes widened, "I did too!"

Connor straightened up, "You're kidding me, was it a girl?"

Negi nodded, "Yeah, she said she had something really important to tell me."

Connor nodded faster than Negi was, "I know! She said she-"

The third party sat by Connor, smiling like an idiot and nodding, "Said the same thing to me, I came here to simply warn you that it's actually a tr-" Masayoshi wasn't able to finish the sentence.

Suddenly, the entire world went still. Then in the blink of an eye, the very floor beneath the table the three parties were sitting on collapsed. Negi looked absolutely horrified, Connor's face was surprised, and Masayoshi looked irritated. Ku Fei, noticing what happened dived forward trying to grab Connor's hand, Natsumi sprinted over, her face filled with panic as she tried to save her new teacher, and try to pull up Negi-kun. The Narutaki Twins were reading some magazine, and when they realized the table was falling through the floor, they tried to grab Negi and haul him back up. Makie quickly used her ribbon to try to pull up Negi, Hakase used a biological mechanical arm to try to keep the table from falling, many of the other girls did everything they could in that few horrifying seconds, but no one succeeded, it was like the three teachers couldn't be saved. When she realized this Ku Fei hugged Connor by the waist and fell down with him, despite his futile attempts to throw her off. The Narutaki twins simply sat on the table, their expressions pure panic. Natsumi, realizing it was hopeless and tried to get away, but her shirt got caught on a splintered piece of the table. In a blink of an eye, the three teachers, and the few students fell into the dark seemingly bottomless pit of darkness under the Library.

-

Connor came to, he felt like he actually broke. Similar to an old, unappreciated toy, he felt like his tiny plastic spine was bisected in two, his miniature head bent at an odd angle, his miniscule legs snapped off and laying five feet away. But that's what he'd feel if he was a toy, the only real problem was his head hurt from impact and he was sure his back was bruised heavily. He sat up ignoring the pain, he squinted into the darkness, but to no avail, it was so dark he felt like he was thrown into an ink bottle. He held his hands a few inches away from his face, they were enshrouded in the darkness like a deep impenetrable fog. He staggered to his feet, feeling waves upon waves of pain tingling through his legs, he stood full height and felt around, _Sunshine fell with me, she was holding on tight, she must be around here somewhere… _then his hand hit something warm.

Connor tapped it again, he opened his mouth, a small smile creeping across his face, "S-Sunshine? This you? Ku Fei?" his voice was hoarse and sounded pained, but it was clear.

The voice of the body pierced his skull like a spear, "No it's not Sunshine, whoever that is, and what you're touching is my chest, do you plan on finding the girls by groping them?" Two hands suddenly appeared from the darkness and pulled his hands off. The voice came back, "Alright then, this is Masayoshi by the way." His voice returned to his devil-may-care tone and he grabbed Connor's wrist with his right hand, "Come on, let's find that Sunshine of yours, I have to find my student."

Connor, embaressed and too tired to talk, allowed Masayoshi to drag him every which way, when Masayoshi let go Connor found his voice again, "Hey! Don't let go of me! I can't see anything!"

Masayoshi's voice came from right up ahead of him, "Oh you can't either?"

Connor's eyes widened in disbelief, "Are you saying you were running around blindly this entire time!?"

Connor could swear he could see Masayoshi smirk as he talked, "Well I thought you knew you were going and let me drag you, I thought wrong I guess."

Connor's fists shook with rage, "I'll kill you!"

One of Masayoshi's hands appeared, tapping the infuriated Connor on the nose, "You have to catch me first!"

Connor stopped, realizing if Masayoshi went with that, they would get separated, and Connor actually needed the little idiot if he wants to get out of here alive, "OK fine, sorry. Do you know how to get us out?"

Masayoshi was silent, then his voice came through, from Connor's right, "Actually my teleport and flying spells stink. Negi's better at that sort of wind-based stuff. Aren't you a mage? Can't you help us out?"

Connor shook his head, "No I don't do that sort of pansy magic."

Masayoshi laughed, "Well I guess I can do this…"

Connor heard a scribbling sound then suddenly his jacket caught on fire, "Whatohmygod! Argh!" he quickly smothered the fire using the rest of his unlit jacket, before he did he could see Masayoshi's illuminated figure, it looked surprised, but his lips were quivering into a smile. Connor stamped his foot, "You idiot!"

Masayoshi made a quick remark, "Well I didn't know you were there! Hold on, I'll do it without paper this time." Connor heard a few clicking sounds each one accompanied with a flash of light. Finally the fifth click made a sort of floating fire on top of Masayoshi's palm, it revealed that they were standing on stone, it looked like a giant cellar.

Connor stared at the fire, then back at Masayoshi's face, now fully revealed by the flickering flame, "How does this help us?"

Masayoshi shrugged, "I just thought it looked cool, but I guess I could make a bunch of these in certain places to show where we checked. We need to find Negi and the girls that fell with us, do you know who fell?"

Connor tapped his foot, thinking, then he remembered, "Definitely Ku Fei, she was holding on to me, so I thought she'd be nearby…"

Masayoshi nodded, "Anyone else?" before Connor could answer he simply began to walk in a random direction.

Connor jogged to catch up, but slowed down to a normal walk as he began to talk again, "Well there were those twins, they were trying to help Negi. And um… Natsumi too, she was trying to save him too." He held up his fingers, "That makes four people we have to find…"

Masayoshi shook his head, frowning slightly, "Maybe more, who knows how many fell down… and how many didn't survive… doesn't it seem weird that we survived this kind of fall and landed on solid rock without getting anything worse than a bruise?"

Connor shook his head, he was wondering the same thing, "Maybe it wasn't such a fall."

Masayoshi laughed, "If it wasn't this place would be well illuminated from the hole, it was still daytime outside."

Connor shrugged, "We all were knocked out, who knows how long we were out?"

Masayoshi looked at his feet, "We fell a few minutes ago." Connor was about to question this, but Masayoshi held up a watch, "See?" Connor made a bitter remark and walked in front of him.

Connor looked around, checking the border of shadow and light, hoping to find someone sleeping nearby, hoping that one of the girls were screaming for help, or Negi was switch them, he could protect them right? He suddenly heard a beeping sound, he quickly turned around and seen Masayoshi taking a call on his cell phone, a jet black thin phone.

Masayoshi paled as he heard the voice, "Having a bit of trouble aren't we?" Masayoshi made an 'I'll be right back' motion to Connor, who simply rolled his eyes and looked around nearby.

Masayoshi went over in the shadows, he left the fire on the ground by Connor, it can survive for five hours without any magic, he crouched down and whispered to the caller, "What are you calling for!? I told you to never call me!"

The voice crackled slightly, but this was due to Masayoshi being underground, "I can call whenever, I'm giving the orders, not the other way around. Now listen up, you're late, very late. I advise you to do what we want or I assure you, you'd wish you took the easy way out and just died."

Masayoshi made a grimace, that option two doesn't sound too bad now, "Can't I just wait a little longer, I still need to wait for my-"

The voice became angry, "I don't care! You get everything done before the festival or your services will no longer be of any use to us."

Masayoshi sighed, "I'll try."

The voice softened, "Try or not, you must do this, your future depends on it."

As the caller hung up Masayoshi stared at the phone in anger, "Yours as well."

-

Connor had his hands in his pocket, he wanted to run into the black fog and find everyone, but he knew it was safer to just stick with the eccentric punk. He came back looking sick, "Hey Masayoshi, you alright?"

Masayoshi nodded, a weak smile on his face, "Yeah I'm fine, just the… my phone company is cutting me off."

Connor shrugged, "Eh it happens, now let's hurry and find the girls and Negi."

Masayoshi nodded and picked up the fireball, then nodding he tossed it to Connor, wide-eyed and ever-vigilant, Connor caught it, expecting blistering fire to overwhelm him, he was surprised to find it hovered inches from his skin and felt warm not hot. Masayoshi smiled as he conjured up his own, "It'll be easier to track everyone with two smart parties, when you find someone just drop the fireball and follow it, it'll float to me on it's own. I'll do the same if I find someone, we'll just keep doing this OK?"

Connor nodded, Masayoshi was smarter than he looked. With one final nod between the two, they went off in separate directions.

-

"What are we going to do Negi-sensei!?" Natsumi didn't appear to be the best person to get lost with… Negi sighed, he looked at the staff then back at her, _she can't learn about magic, but maybe I have no choice… it doesn't matter anyway, I have to find the others…_

-

Ku Fei bit her lip as she tried to look through the black haze that covered this room like a poisonous gas, slowly eating away any hopes of escaping. The twins were standing on wither side of her, frightened… but hopeful.

Fumika's voice finally broke the silence, "Do you think they're looking for us?"

Fuka nodded, "Of course they are!" then she frowned, "But who's out there?"

Ku Fei smiled, "Connor… Negi-bozu… Natsumi-chan… and Connor's friend. They all looking for us, Connor never give up."

Fumika and Fuka both looked happy, then intrigued, "Who's Connor-sensei's friend? Was it that black haired boy?"

Ku Fei nodded, "Do you know him?"

Fuka but her lip and tilted her head to the side, as though to think, "Did he wear a boy's uniform?"

Ku Fei shrugged, she never sees many guys around Mahora, so she never knows what they usually wear, "He wear lots of black, like Connor. He also had big book, it black."

Both girl suddenly brightened up and jumped up and down in joy, "Yay! Wan-wan came back! He's back!"

Ku Fei laughed, "OK, keep making big noise, maybe someone hear you."

-

Masayoshi walked into the middle of a large pentagram, he knew exactly what was going to happen, but he walked onward, his face full of determination, his heart set.

As soon as he reached the pentagon in the center, the entire figure glowed, a fiery red glow, he knew this spell, a very simple but practical spell, it's a powerful containment spell that makes anyone trapped in the middle unable to leave the barrier formed by the large circle on the outside.

Three figures appeared on the boundaries, one came out swinging a machete on a chain, the glow dissipated the shadowy fog, revealing the face of the first figure, he was smiling slightly, his gray hair disheveled slightly, his fading gray eyes were glinting with murderous content. Sho was ready, his new masters have informed him that it is difficult to kill Masayoshi, Sho already knew this, he was of the same kind, but Sho would enjoy the long fight, he cracked his neck and slowly walked toward his prey.

Another figure walked in slowly on the opposite end of Sho, she was ready for her own kind of revenge, she pushed away the few pink hued hairs away from her eyes and smiled delicately as she pulled out a wooden wand and took out a dark blue book out of her black robes. She smiled as Masayoshi's face turned to desperate confusion.

Moro Yamamoto looked at Masayoshi with careful vivid yellow eyes, the people that hired him said that this man could possibly affect the world in a terrible way, he looked down at his arm, it was twitching in anticipation. He took a deep breath and let it out slowly, then he unbandaged his arm and looked at Masayoshi, picturing his plans.

Masayoshi closed his eyes, humming sort of rhythmic tune in his head, allowing it to calm himself, then with a wooshing sound he opened up his book and pulled out his pen, he smiled at the silver-haired boy in front of him, he cocked his head, "Are we ready?"

**-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**

_Tch tch tch, better head to bed… well no point in it, the sun is coming up, well I've been on here all night, I hope it was worth it… please review… please._

Slight Translations/Explanations:

Moro Yamamoto -… to go flashing at the base of a mountain… you're an odd one Raedric, truly an odd one. This is Raedric's OC, read his story The Forgotten to understand more of this character.

REVIEW!


	7. Lies and Truth

_A few more days, three for me, four for you, I think… This is dedicated to two groups! 1) to all of the new authors and new stories out there! When I first started there wasn't much were there? 2) My original review team! You guys always review, for that I'm ever grateful, seeing that you're my only reviewers I'm also thankful I'm maintaining decent relations with you, last thing I need is to piss you guys off!_

_Note to Ultima-Kun – Thanks for reviewing! Because you're not a listed author I can't PM you so I'll make this short, I don't know whether or not to bring Asakura back, that's actually Connor's biggest goal at the moment._

**Disclaimer: Negima! doesn't belong to me, neither does Connor, Moro, or other OC's that might appear. I do however own Masayoshi and half of this storyline, which is slowly decreasing because I'm borrowing so heavily, might as well make it a group project... no not really.**

**-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**

**Messed Up**

Moro tried to uppercut the nimble mage, as nimble would imply, Masayoshi simply sidestepped, avoiding the monstrous attack. Moro, well-trained in using his arm, a demonic implant on his human body, used the extra momentum to swing around, accelerating at every second, a moment before impact he yelled, "Demon Punch!" He smirked as the punch connected, expecting his opponent to collapse or fly back, his eyes widened in surprise when his target actually exploded. Moro took a step back, he covered his eyes, avoiding any blood that could blind him, but to his surprise the only thing falling from the sky was burning shreds of papers. Suddenly he lurched forward as a stunningly hard kick connected to the bottom of his back. He turned around to see Masayoshi taking a step back and smiling, looking as though he just beat him. Moro angrily charged forward, sending his fist into the ground, the stone ground shattered and shot out of the ground as deadly spikes.

Masayoshi jumped up and landed softly on one of the tips, from up there he pulled out his book and held one hand over his head, his index finger pointing upward, "From thy divine Heavens! From thy sinful Hell! Return thy creature of the void from whence it came!" He brought his arm down and pointed directly at Moro's face, a grimace forming. Masayoshi smirked, "Final Judgment!" suddenly it appeared that a shimmering orb of a mix of fire and light appeared at the tip of his finger. Moro took a step back, awed by the power. The orb exploded and suddenly all of its contents flew at Moro at incredible speeds, it coiled around his feet, in a panic he tried to run, but tripped as the tendrils snaked its way along his body, he fell forward and groaned in pain, the magic was slowly weakening him, as soon as the spell reached Moro's arm the light shone and all of it went into his arm like a vile poison. Suddenly he felt as though someone poured gasoline on his arm and lit it on fire, he screamed in agony, he thought he knew pain, but this was nothing that he's felt before, this was truly hell. He cringed, pulling his legs up to his chest, unable to scream because he had no more breath in his lungs to force out, he slowly passed out from mental shock.

Masayoshi jumped to the side, narrowly avoiding Sho's machete, Sho swung it around and around, obviously training ever since Masayoshi dumped his body in a forest a few months ago. Sho brought the machete down with a force that would make Ku Fei, Kaede, and Setsuna walk away in shame, the sheer force alone destroyed one of the towers of rock caused by Moro's arm. Sho jumped from one tip to the other as nimbly as Masayoshi, Masayoshi was flipping through his book as he ran, quickly scanning around for a good spell, as soon as he found it he had to duck and lose his page when a fireball passed overhead, singeing his longer hairs.

Marie stood with her wand outstretched, content that she could use that spell so well. Then she frowned as Masayoshi ran full throttle at her, her frown became a panicked grimace as she quickly flipped through her book trying to find a decent enough spell. Masayoshi grinned, he held his pen in his right hand, his left hand barely hanging onto his book, he slashed at the air creating an arc of fire rushing at Marie, she screamed and ducked, her hands covering her head protectively, her wand clattered loudly on the stone and her book made a thick thud as it hit. Masayoshi and the arc of fire passed harmlessly over head. She looked up and got hit full in the face from a sonic boom caused by Sho's attacks. She was unconscious before she even hit the ground.

Sho growled at the knocked out girl, "What are you doing!? Kill him already!" he ran past her and slashed and slashed again, he became more infuriated since his machete simply didn't want to make contact. He yelled at Masayoshi, "Face me! A duel to the death!"

Masayoshi stopped as Sho's machete stuck itself into the ground. Masayoshi nodded and raised a slip of paper above his head, "Spiritus ab intra verba, emergo!" the paper turned into a blinding light and formed itself into a large sword. Masayoshi licked the blade, "Ready to die?"

Sho raised an eyebrow, "Your tongue is bleeding."

Masayoshi was quite aware of this, he stuck his tongue out and blood slowly trickled down his chin. "It hurths…"

Sho shook his head, "That's why we really don't lick the blade, that's just television and manga."

Masayoshi pinched his tongue to slow the bleeding, "Vell I know… I jshut shought id be cool."

Sho blinked, "Are you done now?"

Masayoshi touched his tongue, letting healing magic flow though his fingertips into the fresh cut, it stopped bleeding, "Yeah I'm OK."

Sho nodded, "That's good." Than he wildly pulled his machete out of the ground, spun around a full 360 and threw it with all his might, Masayoshi held a decent defensive stance, but when the machete made contact with the blade, it jarred the sword out of his hand, Sho smirked, "It's all over!" he whipped the machete in a wild horizontal arc and it embedded itself into Masayoshi right side.

Masayoshi gave a yelp of pain, his eyes grew very wide and he collapsed onto his knees, he was gasping for air, he knew that his magic shield might not be able to save him this time, he thought about the time when he got his own pen shoved into his body, and Sho stabbing him, in both cases his unnaturally powerful magical shield protected him from death, although the pain remains inflicted upon the body. His vision was turning hazy from the corners… he tried to stand, maybe make an incantation, no use… he dropped, both hands on the ground, then, as though someone up there was smiling at him, his black book fell out of it's sling and landed in front of him, opened to a special page. Masayoshi smiled and with the last of his strength, he took his pen and using his own blood as the utensil, drew an incredibly small magic circle on the pen using is pinky nail. Then he stood up.

Sho smirked, a mad glint returning to his eyes, he pulled on the chain and with a rending sound it tore out of Masayoshi's side, a spiral of blood in the air, it landed on the ground with a sickening splat. Then the unimaginable happened, Masayoshi threw something at Sho. Sho could see it only for a fraction of a second, Masayoshi's pen riding on a bolt of lightning, and then he felt a searing pain hit his temple, Sho rolled his eyes and fell back, unconscious.

Masayoshi smiled a bit, the blood was still flowing out, he held his wound, _that's lovely, I've got both sides hit… _"Well at least now I can just rest…"

"That's what you think."

Masayoshi looked up at the voice, and groaned, is face as pale as the moonlight.

-

The class of 3A were huddled around a gaping hole, deep in this void was Connor, Masayoshi, Negi, Natsumi, Ku Fei, Fuku, and Fumika. Most of the girls were huddled in groups sobbing, a few holding back their tears were desperately trying to find out what the best course of action was. Some, seemingly devoid of tears, were thinking quickly of everything they could do too help.

Ayaka stood up tall, her golden hair flowing behind her. She pointed to the hole, "We must save Negi-sensei!"

Nodoka whimpered slightly, tears falling freely from her eyes, "H-how Iinchou? We can't s-see anything in t-there…"

Asuna looked deep into the darkness, she wasn't worried about Negi, she knew he can take care of himself… for the most part. She was more worried about the girls and that Masayoshi boy, she never trusted him ever since he shown his face a few months ago, and he was fishy in the very beginning. "I think with a few flashlights…"

Ayaka stopped her with a look tat easily could have said, "Shut up. I'm running the show." She turned to the class sparkles in her eyes, "We shall arrange a search party! Go and hurry! Find helmets and flashlights, ropes, bandages, everything!" As though she were a commander in the middle of battle, the girls obeyed her every command, they rushed out to every corner of the library (At least the one's in the lobby) looking for anything that could save the stranded girls and teachers. Once a few minutes past even the most fragile girls had stone faces as the five girls that chose to go find everyone suited up.

Kaede zipped up the gray tight-fitting material to her chin, a cunning smile on her face. She turned to the side to see the stretched material to protect her sides, she was wondering how Hakase was able to make these with such simple things.

Makie looked at the bundle of rope in her hand, then she looked at her body in a mirror, she blushed as she thought of what the male teacher's reaction would be to this tight fitting uniform.

Evangeline brushed her hair back and looked at the hole with disinterest, though her insides were burning. She won't allow whatever was in there to get there hands on him, she knew he returned… she flushed as thoughts of Masayoshi flitted through her memories, she clenched her fist in anger, _I'll kill him!_

Chachamaru didn't wear the gray uniform, instead she had ready-made armor designed for combat attached to her frame, she showed no emotion on her artificial face, but if one of the girls looked closely, they would see a glint in her eye similar to that of one with great determination.

Ayaka, finished with her uniform, observed her body critically in the mirror, she was obviously proud as she put her hands on her hips and stood taller, making her seem to stand proud. She nodded to the other four and they all put on matching well made connecting headphones, then a large protective helmet overtop of that. Chachamaru didn't need either of these for obvious reasons. They all saluted in unison to the rest of the class like well trained the JSDF Special Recon and strapped ropes to various bookcases and jumped down into the hole and darkness that separated them from their one true goal, Negi and Connor… oh and the rest of the girls. Masayoshi was nearly forgotten by everyone except a few.

-

Connor held out the flame, he still was amazed at the strange phenomenon, if he concentrated really hard on it, some of his magic would pour into it and practically feed the fire. The brighter he wanted it, the brighter it got, eventually he completely illuminated everything around him for about five meters. And an even better surprise appeared when he found out he hit a wall, which meant they're boxed in somehow rather than being in an endless void.. Connor began to run through the black nothingness now, he checked every once and a while at his watch, forgetting that it ran out of batteries. He thought he could hear voices every now and then, but every time he reached the place where he heard it, it would simply vanish.

He was sprinting now, he dashed to a certain spot where giggling came from. The moment he reached it, he wished he hadn't. There was a skeleton there, it wore a dirtied, worn dress and the skull was cracked. Connor's eyes widened as he took a step back, exhaling sharply. He licked his dry lips, bile rising from his throat, he swallowed forcing it down, and he looked again at the body, his lip trembling. He pointed the fire at the body and a sudden feeling of relief wash over him, the body was not that of any Mahora girl, the uniform wasn't even a uniform, it seemed to be a very old Celtic ceremonial dress, how it survived for such a long time simply amazed him, but he turned away nonetheless. When he heard the giggling again, he swerved on his heel and jumped a good two feet back. There standing, on the other side of the body was a blonde girl; she smirked at Connor's horrified face.

She put one hand on her hip, "Nice to see you again too Connor."

Connor quickly fell to his knees and prayed to something, the girl sweatdropped slightly, "Uh… I'm not a ghost; I'm the one who called you. Do you remember me?" she put a hand on her chest, Connor followed her hand, the girl flushed and put her hand on her cheek, "I'm Elia, remember? I told you that Masayoshi can't die, I was drinking a cream soda float."

Connor stood back up, "Oh yeah, I remember now." He looked at the girl, she looked exactly the same, except now he could examine her entire body, in one way she was kind of short, Ku Fei's size maybe. She had hair the color of honey and gold, it was magnificent; it reached the base of her neck and went no farther. Her eyes were green, sea-green. She seemed to be about fourteen, just the age of the Mahora girls. She wasn't what he pictured for a Japanese girl so he categorized her in the foreign section. She wore a purple t-shirt and light blue jeans, she looked very American.

Answering his thoughts the girl smiled warmly, "I'm of Italian descent, that's why I look like this."

Connor shook his head in confusion, "But Italians don't have-"

"Italian descent."

Connor shrugged and walked past her, fed up with all of these irritating interruptions, the girl followed him for some way before she talked again, "Masayoshi's dying."

Connor stopped for a moment then acting as though he didn't hear the comment kept walking, the girl smirked, "He's fought valiantly, but in the end he got beat. He beat three tough opponents and he never realized there was a fourth. He couldn't beat the fourth."

Connor began to speak over his shoulder, "What happened to that thing about him being unable to die?"

The girl shrugged it off, "I said he wasn't allowed to die, he'll get in trouble now."

Connor walked faster, "How will he get in trouble? He'll be dead, unless his boss is that cruel…"

The girl laughed coldly, "Trust me, his boss is that cruel."

Connor shook his head, almost going into a jog, "Why doesn't he quit? Sounds like a pain in the-"

The girl cut him off suddenly; she appeared in front of him with arms outstretched, "You'd never understand, you're not allowed to go any further. Listen to my proposition and I'll help you find your friends."

Connor frowned angrily, "So you planned this entire thing?"

The girl smiled her green eyes becoming cold, "Never thought I'd be so tricky huh? Trust me, this is a good proposition. You know that girl who died? I'll bring her back for you too."

Connor sneered, "You're lying. You can't bring back the dead. No one can."

The girl's eyes remained fixated on Connor's, "Masayoshi can bring back the dead, he's been doing it for years, it's his job. He fixes the past so the old geezers in the future don't have to deal with it. If he messes up, he dies. If he dies he'll never be allowed rest on the other side, _they'll_ make sure of it."

Connor took a step back, he studied the girl's eyes for long moments, finally he realized she was telling the truth, "Then why doesn't he just bring back Asakura, and then he can go on with his life. No more worries."

The girl's expression wavered into a deep sadness, "Unfortunately Masayoshi will never be able to finish his tasks, he'll be doing their bidding forever. He's chained up so tight he no longer has any control over his life." She shook her head and her anger returned, "But his mission now is to fix the fact that you're alive. You shouldn't be here, he has to fix it. He was supposed to kill Negi months ago to prevent him from saving you, but he didn't, and now this will happen…"

Connor's curiosity began to take form, "What will happen?"

The girl looked up at him for a moment, then she smirked, "The two worlds will collide, when Asakura is resurrected a demon will come with her, that demon is known as the Mother. It'll be able to bring thousands upon thousands of others from the magical world to this realm. The wise mages of the future know when this all started and sent Masayoshi, a mere infant, to the past to right the wrongs of the world. He grew up here with his mission burned into his mind. He can't do anything… but I can help you."

"That's not true! Don't listen to her!" Masayoshi slowly limped over to Connor, a thinning trail of blood following him, showing his path. He coughed a slight mouthful of blood on the floor; he wiped his mouth and began to walk to Connor's side. Connor noticed Masayoshi actually seemed angry, "Elia! Don't feed lies to him!"

Elia shrugged, "No lies here, dear." Then in a sudden flash of light she vanished.

Connor looked at where she was and turned back to Masayoshi, who sat down, exhausted. Connor observed Masayoshi wince every time he breathed, he pointed at his side and muttered something under his breath, a slight breeze seemed to blow past Connor and Masayoshi sighed. Connor finally opened his mouth, "Is she from the future?"

Masayoshi smiled, "No…" he looked at his side, bloody, but mostly healed. He sighed again, content.

Connor began to talk at a rapidly fast rate, "Did she tell the truth? Can you really save the dead, are you some sort of assassin from the future, are you really planning on killing me?"

Masayoshi turned his hand so the top of his hand faced upward, "Watch this." he touched it with the tip of his pen, suddenly a small magic circle appeared, "When we, agents for the Magi, are born in the future, we have this burned onto us, it's a protective magic circle that allows us to survive things that most normal people would die of, example would be getting a machete in your side. We have to, but it's very risky, it's always possible the clerics could screw up… that's the reason I'm still alive you see."

Connor shook his head, not amused, "Well whatever… can you save Blaze or not?"

Masayoshi stared at Connor for a moment then, "I can save Asakura… but she died a while ago, I need a lot of magic to affect the past indirectly, bringing the dea will take even more. And I have to do both."

Connor looked at him coldly, "So you're saying it's impossible."

Masayoshi smiled childishly, contrasting to Connor's face, "There's enough magic here, I just don't know _when_."

Connor shook his head in confusion. Then Masayoshi pointed off to the distance, "I hear some cheering over there." Connor and Masayoshi looked at each other for a second and both scrambled over to the cheering voices, Masayoshi smiling all the while, running well for someone who just fought off three well trained opponents. Connor began to wonder who to trust: Masayoshi… or Elia.

**-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**

_I'll be home soon, don't forget me!_

Slight Translations/Explanations:

JSDF Special Recon – There might be such a thing, I just don't know, I thought "JSDF" and then "Special Recon" so I put it together.

The skeleton girl – The library was western made, it would make sense that this place they were in could have been part of a Celtic burial area correct? I just needed something to send chills up Connor's spine.

Elia – Last seen in the restaurant after Connor was saved. She's mysterious no? In the actual fiction where Masayoshi and Elia were in, they were siblings, but in this story Elia denies any such relation.

Moro, Marie, Sho – who knows why they attacked Masayoshi? Marie and Sho obviousely could have attacked him for vengeful purposes, but why would Moro? He might have been hired perhaps. Who knows?


	8. Blast from the Past

_Ha… I'm home at last… horribly sick again yes, but despite it I want to get out of page 2 no matter what. Well don't expect anything great, hopefully I'll make a Thanksgiving filler after this… maybe that'll cheer us all up right? I'll take suggestions from my reviewers, anything will do, I feel a writer's block coming, and I'd hate to delete this… I truly would._

**Disclaimer: Negima! doesn't belong to me, neither does Connor, Moro, or other OC's that might appear. I do however own Masayoshi and half of this storyline… which really is depleting quickly.**

**-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**

**Messed Up**

The red robed mage touched the fine powder on the ground, he looked at it for moments, his gaze following the trail and realizing it was a large pentagram, or more likely, a large spell circle. He smirked under the crimson folds of his hood. He turned now to the three unconscious bodies littered here and there, he shook his head in irritation, it took him a while to repair the damage done, but he wasn't allowed to mess with any civilians. A man from the future, a man with a demon's arm, and a shaman girl might not appear to be your everyday civilians but for the red robed man, they were. He turned and observed a floating fireball near the gray haired boy with a large weapon, the fireball was slowly floating, being pulled somewhere by some unseen force. He gripped his staff and began to follow it.

-

Ku Fei squinted in the darkness, she could see a slight glimmer, this could be her eyes playing tricks on her like before, when she seen a shimmer of light farther out but it lasted only for few moments, then a large rumbling came and Ku Fei and the Narutaki twins had to run off in the night to avoid a possible earthquake. But this light was growing brighter with every passing second, following them eerily; it was bobbing up and down rhythmically. Then she seen it, it was a fireball. Her eyes widened and she took a step back, Ku Fei heard of these things from a book Konoka let her borrow, it was something called a Hitodama, it was supposed to be a type of ghost. They appear in deep forests and in graveyards and leave the puzzled person that followed them astray, eventually getting them even more lost than they already were. Other stories say they're fire spirits of the dead, visiting their physical world. Either way Ku Fei didn't want it to get any closer. She picked up a rock; it was about the size of a baseball, a bit heavier than most. With expert precision she threw the rock straight at the flame, then to her surprise, the flame yelped, it made a loud thudding sound and went out.

-

Connor fell to the ground both of his hands were on a rather large bump on his forehead, "Ah crap! Who the hell did that!"

Masayoshi was staring at Connor with an amused smile, he held the fire tightly in his hands, letting lack of air let the fire go out. When it finally did he shook his hands and pointed at a large baseball-sized rock. Connor grimaced and still rubbing the fading spot angrily, he began to walk towards the faint outline of a figure, hand clenched, ready to personally eliminate the nuisance.

-

Ku Fei stepped back, something was coming towards her, something that gave off an aura of pure anger. She smirked and turned her head towards the two twins. Ku Fei looked at the rubble all around them. Fuka quickly began to understand and filled in her oblivious sister. The three girls all gave a brief nod and prepared themselves for a master plan.

-

Negi took a step forward, his face revealing utter confusion. He took a step back, to where he started, and took a step to the left. Still not please he went to the right. Natsumi walked beside him, faithful to the child teacher's every move. She didn't care that he seemed confused, scared, and possibly going mad, she was happy that he was willing to risk his life just to help her. She beamed happily.

Negi looked at Natsumi and sweatdropped, he would do anything in the world to help his students, but if they could offer some sort of needed help, he might feel he wasn't alone in all of this… Natsumi gasped.

Negi spun around his hands in front of him as though trying to defend himself from something, "I didn't mean anything by it!" but she was staring dead ahead, right over Negi. Negi, feeling as though there were some sort of terrible evil behind him, quickly turned around to see a man not five yards away from him. He wore crimson robes, a hood over his head, yet not concealing his face, he appeared to be about twenty, but in a divine sort of way he seemed ageless. His gray eyes bore into Negi's dark ones, they burrowed deep, piercing his soul. Negi couldn't tear the gaze away no matter how uncomfortable he was. The man's slivery hair seemed to be just that, pure silver, as beautiful as the moon itself, his eyes revealed nothing, he was smiling gently, as though he just found two small children wandering about. Negi sweatdropped in his head, _technically he did…_

The red robed man spoke for the first time, "Negi Springfield, are you lost?"

Negi swallowed his pride, then shakily he spoke, "Me and some of my students fell down here… c-could you help us out?"

The man nodded, the gentle smile quickly becoming an amused one, "Of course, I noticed that there was a slight problem with the roof, that and people down here is very very odd…"

Negi looked at the man with a puzzled look on his face, Natsumi was trying to piece together a plan, she snapped her fingers and looked at the man with a proud smile, "I get it! You must know where we fell from! Could you please take us? That way everyone that didn't fall down can try to get us out."

The gray eyed man smiled, "You're a very smart girl, I would be happy to assist you all."

Negi held up a hand, much like a student requesting permission to talk, "Have you seen any of the others? There's um, a pair of twins, they have pink hair, and there's another girl, she's about this tall and she has a sort of accent…"

The man held out his hand to silence Negi, it worked. Then he turned his gaze to the pair's right, "If you go that way you'll reach some of your companions. But… don't expect who… hehehe…" the man turned the opposite direction and began to walk off, but before he disappeared into the darkness he yelled over his shoulder, "You may leave without everyone, I will find them and send them on their way, no thanks is needed!" and with that he vanished, the last sound was a slight whoosh from his cloak.

Natsumi sighed, "What a mysterious person… well hurry Negi, we have to go that way, I think I hear voices, hopefully it's a few of the others!" with one last yelp form her young teacher Natsumi grabbed his wrist and ran at speeds that would make the track team envious.

-

Sho regained consciousness and kicked his feet into the air, the momentum forcing his body upward, with expert ease he allowed his feet to touch ground first and arched his back forward to regain his center of balance and stood up, as he did he grimaced as his vision hazed from light-headed-ness. He looked around the room and found a bundle of lighter black contrasting to the pure blinding darkness of his horrible line-of-sight, he quickly knelt by the bundle to find his accomplice still alive, despite her feeble strength. He picked her up and quickly searched for the mercenary they hired. Sho found him far from Marie, but he could sense his life source still throbbing, Sho looked him over, "He's barely worth taking with me…" he muttered under his breath. Despite this he heaved Moro up and with a slight grunt he put him over his other shoulder. After two steps he collapsed… and couldn't get back up, "Ow…"

-

Connor quickly ducked as a large rock flew over his head, in another instant the barrage worsened from small stones to large chunks of debris, and both hurt like hell. Connor quickly ran around the dark trying to avoid the rocks, it seemed like they were coming from absolutely everywhere, he was about to just collapse and become as small as he could get so there'll be less of a target, but then a cheery voice broke through his thoughts, "Yo Connor! Over here!" Connor turned, desperate to avoid getting hurt, then he ran toward the waving teen, but abruptly stopped when the said teen flew a good four feet away when a well-aimed rock hit him near the temple. It was almost comical, one moment he was smiling and waving idiotically at Connor to try to get his attention, then in a blink of an eye, he was spiraling in the air, with a look of confusion, pain, and distress all mixed in with that foolish smile on his lips. He landed with a sickening thud on the hard rock ground, Connor winced and dropped to the ground, making himself as flat as possible.

As he hit the ground, he felt something hard hit him on the head, he groaned and reached up to brush it off, but was surprised to feel a chill crawl up his spine as he touched leather, suddenly a primal hunger filled his mind, in that moment, the only thing he cared about was to read that book, with shaking hands he opened the front, then like a spider web being made in fast forward, the writing appeared, at first it was in some sort of runic language that made absolutely no sense to Connor at all, then the letters actually began to move, swapping sections with others, and eventually they became recognizable as the English language. Connor began to tear through the book trying to find something, the book suddenly became a book of his memories, his legacy, his life, his future, his path, his mistakes.

_In the battle, the traitor is realized, Connor, fighting for everything, and ---, fighting for the bonds of fate, death meets them and bests them both. _

Connor tried to see the name, but it was smudged, nearly intelligible gibberish, then he realized he could find Asakura in here, he simply turned the page and there was a sketching of her, she was leaning on a doorway, her school uniform was neat and straight, a camera in her right hand, she was staring at something that the artist did not quite get, she was looking at the source of light, something radiant, she was smiling slightly. A tear suddenly fell on the page.

"Connor-sensei? Is that you? Are you crying?"

-

The red robed man quickly dragged the boy off into the darkness, the man smirked slightly, then in a voice that seemed as rich as the best mahogany, spoke to the semiconscious boy, "You are very very out of line… must you always do this to me? It's irritating, but I understand you're doing this because you think its right, but you must understand that you are out of your mission's parameters to do this, do you wish to be executed for this treason to our Lord?"

The boy was bound by something stronger than rope, something a normal person could not see, he spat on the ground, a horrible headache making his head spin, "I'm going to be out of line no matter what you do, you think you'll fair better? Even Serac couldn't stop me."

The man turned smiling, "Serac is a man tied down, since you are out of the design, you are out of his limits, you should be thankful, but I on the other hand, will punish you as you should be… unless you finish this mission, you know how important it is. But you plan on finishing it don't you? Why the sudden change of heart?"

The boy looked at the ground, shame all over his face, "I… must…"

The red robed man smirked, "Good."

-

Connor looked back at the page, _i-if I only was there sooner… If I was only there sooner…_ the page began to transform, all of the runes sucked itself into the center, and then a bright green light shot forth from the middle of the page, Connor sat up, horrified and interested. Then a giant magic circle slowly floated out of the book, then it bound itself around Connor in a large ring, Connor tried to crawl away, he felt a sudden dread as the ring spun faster, at such extreme speeds it appeared to become a green glowing ring, then in a bright green flash… everything stopped, and never happened.

-

Connor looked into the library, expecting to see only the pure darkness of wherever he was. Negi was sitting at the table looking impatient, a few of the girls were off doing absolutely nothing of any importance. Connor looked at a mirror situated near a large bookcase and realized he had a slight red mark on his face from a rock, he touched it, it stung a bit. Connor quickly looked at his clothes, they were covered in dust and dirt from rubble. He quickly ducked into the shadows and shot a blast of wind magic to completely clean his clothes. He brushed himself off and began to walk towards Negi, knowing nothing of what just happened, but before he could even leave the shadowy area near the bookshelves he was suddenly pushed back a good foot and crashed into the shelf. There was an odd burning sound and he felt an odd feeling in his stomach, like it was floating, then he looked into the eyes of a very angry Masayoshi.

Masayoshi grabbed Connor by his collar and held him close to his face, "You fool! Do you know what you've done!? You just warped us back to the past, or should I say you just rewinded us!" Masayoshi paled and fell on the floor, his face twisted in a horrific expression, his usually well-kept hair was horribly messy, his bright eyes were dulled, and his small glasses were askew. Connor grabbed his shoulder, "Explain. Now."

Masayoshi perked up, he sat up and suddenly looked like his old self, "Oh nevermind, I suppose I'm just overreacting. Where's my book?" Connor held both of his hands up in a "I don't have it" gesture. Masayoshi sighed and closed his eyes, he pinched the bridge of his nose and shuddered slightly, "No matter, I'm sure I know who has it, well I better go and find it before…"

"Wan-wan-kun!" Masayoshi was suddenly attacked by two blurs of pink and white, Connor's stomach relaxed as the mood brightened. He quickly moved to the brightly lit area and picked up a book, he looked at all of the students and at Negi, _looks like only me and Masayoshi remember what happened…_ he turned back to the odd teen, and almost laughed as Masayoshi desperately tried to get out of the twins' iron grip.

"Wan-wan-kun! We haven't seen you in such a long time! You never sent us any mail or called! I thought you would miss us!" The Narutaki girls almost spoke in perfect unison.

"I-I would have called, but… I-I was at Bavaria! And ph-phones were hard to find there! Ow ow ow ow! That's my leg! Why are you pulling on my leg!" Masayoshi slammed the ground with his fist his face red with pain.

Negi sighed and walked up to Connor, "I received a call from someone who said they had something important to tell me, but… no one's coming."

Connor put the book down, "Well Negi, that's one of the oldest pranks around, just ignore those kind of calls Negi boy. No use in getting yourself worked over for a dumb kid trying to pull your leg."

Negi pointed at Masayoshi, "Kind of how Fumika and Fuka are doing to Masayoshi right now?"

Connor laughed, and shook his head, "Oh no, that's se-"

Masayoshi appeared between the two, his face crimson, "Don't utter the word! There is no such relation within this building! None of the girls here should even know the meaning of that word!"

Moments after he said that a few girls blushed.

Connor laughed a little and walked out of the library, all of the girls following in tow. Negi and Masayoshi watched their retreating backs, but unknown to any within that building there were a few others who were watching.

-

The red robed man crossed one of his legs across his lap, his right elbow resting on his crossed leg, his head resting in his palm, a smile was on his face, the same kind of smile one wears when they know the next move their opponent would take in chess. On his left side was a young girl with long blonde hair, she wore a purple shirt and light blue jeans, her green eyes shining. The man removed his hood, allowing him to tousle his hair when needed, he spoke to the girl, "Masayoshi will do well correct?"

The girl, Elia, nodded, "As long as I've known him, he's always done impressively, if it wasn't for his pacifist nature and trying to avoid murder, he would be an excellent assassin. But he'll do it this time."

The man nodded, his silver bangs bouncing slightly, "You've forced him into cooperation?" Elia nodded again. The man closed his eyes his smile utterly serene, "Good, perhaps judgment for him will be passed if he makes this mission a success."

Elia took a step towards the man, "Why did they send you?"

The man kept his eyes closed, but no longer smiled, "I'm here to help Masayoshi of course. To alter fate's design, and to keep sure that those under fate's thumb do not interfere with the new design."

Elia looked at the large crystal-like object that appeared to be a television screen, the star: Masayoshi. Elia sighed deeply, "This will affect the future greatly."

The man nodded, "But we are protected, only the natural users will be altered, we are unaffected by such ropes that have tied down so many others."

The girl closed her eyes, her head becoming clouded from mental strain, "I will serve you well… Judgemaster…"

**-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**

_I'll be home soon, don't forget me!_

Slight Translations/Explanations:

JSDF Special Recon – There might be such a thing, I just don't know, I thought "JSDF" and then "Special Recon" so I put it together.

The skeleton girl – The library was western made, it would make sense that this place they were in could have been part of a Celtic burial area correct? I just needed something to send chills up Connor's spine.

Elia – Last seen in the restaurant after Connor was saved. She's mysterious no? In the actual fiction where Masayoshi and Elia were in, they were siblings, but in this story Elia denies any such relation.

Moro, Marie, Sho – who knows why they attacked Masayoshi? Marie and Sho obviousely could have attacked him for vengeful purposes, but why would Moro? He might have been hired perhaps. Who knows?

**-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**

_Well I'm not going to say it's my best work, I'm not going to even say I enjoy it, so I won't feel bad with any harsh criticism. I guess that's all. Goodbye._

Slight translations and other stuff

Nothing much, Judgemaster- I don't know where I've heard this before, but he kept on talking about passing judgment, and I thought this was the coolest name for a mysterious guy like him. Well… bye.


	9. Thanksgiving Filler

_I have the sniffles! I have the sniffles! Wow, I bet you guys think I'm nine or something! Well here's the Thanksgiving filler! I know it's a little late after Thanksgiving, but I was off with my family all last night and well… you know how these things turn up, me having to walk back home with ten pounds of leftovers… that and the server wouldn't let me get this thing out here!_

**Disclaimer: Negima! doesn't belong to me, neither does Connor, Moro, or other OC's that might appear. I do however own Masayoshi and half of this storyline… which really is depleting quickly.**

**-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**

**Messed Up**

"Turkey?" all of the girls in 2A looked at Negi in confusion. Negi was smiling as he brought in a rather large calendar into the room, actually Connor and Masayoshi carried the large thing into the room and slammed it on the wall. Connor fell back onto a seat and tipped his head back and breathed in deeply. Masayoshi smiled and simply fell on the floor, landing with a soft thud, he smiled at Negi like a young schoolboy about to learn the secret of life.

Negi whipped out a pointer and put the tip directly on the center of a certain date, November 23 to be exact. Negi beamed as he imagined the feast he's had back in America when he was visiting some more famous Magister Magi, "In America they have a holiday called Thanksgiving, it's pretty much a day where you gather your family and friends and you have a big get-together and just eat and talk. It's generally a nice night when you just enjoy the company of your peers."

Yue rested her chin on her palm, "It sounds like any other day Negi-sensei. If all we do is eat and talk to our friends… we do that all the time."

Negi smiled, "Your right, and if it was any other year, I wouldn't care whether we do it or not. But I thought since the section we're on is holidays, it would be best to celebrate some western holidays. And that's where Masayoshi and Connor come in, I've decided to make this a bit more fun."

Masayoshi jumped up wearing a red headband and waved two red flags, "Team Masayoshi! Thanksgiving championship is ours!"

Connor sat up, looked at the class from one eye, giving him a very bad-ass look, then he snapped his fingers and two dark blue flags shot up out of nowhere and he waved it, a gentle brushing sound coming from it, "Team Connor's got you beat."

Negi looked at the both with a slight smile, he laughed somewhat embarrassingly, "Well I guess you girls will now decide whose team you'll be on, and after that I'll make a game to play, the team that loses the game will have to clean up plates and stuff from our big Thanksgiving dinner!"

Most of the girls weren't even listening after Negi said that the girls will have their own choice of who's team to go on. In moments the girls swarmed from across the room, the last facial expression on Connor's face that Negi could see was shock. Masayoshi was actually wading in girls, but he slowly was swallowed up, in his final moments above the surface he went down Hollywood style, with one arm still out of the swarm, his last words, "Don't forget those who lie under the sea…er….girls…ooh that sounded perverted…" In a few seconds the girls separated into different teams, one team of girls wore a red armband and headband, signifying their allegiance to Masayoshi, the other team of girls wore dark blue armbands and headbands, representing they belonged to Connor's team. The rest of the girls wore green headbands and armbands, showing their neutrality to both groups… and ending up being represented by Negi.

Negi stood puzzled in front of his group, "Girls, this is a two team game, we can't have th-" Magi was suddenly lifted off of the ground in the arms of a certain blonde student.

Ayaka held Negi with one arm, and the other arm was outstretched towards the heaven, suddenly the background became filled with flowers, "No worries Negi-sensei! I, the class president, will surely bring our team to victory!"

Negi stared glassy eyed at the background, "H-how did you do that?" suddenly the background turned into the classroom again and everyone stared at the two with funny looks.

Masayoshi clapped his hands once to get everyone's attention, "Well since this is a filler chapter we'll have one game, whoever wins the game is the Thanksgiving winner! And I get to choose the game!"

Connor looked at Masayoshi with an eyebrow raised, "Why do you get to choose first? And what are you talking about chapter?"

Masayoshi smiled at him, "Want to do rock, paper, scissors for it?" he out his right hand on his left palm, his smile unwavering. He was obviousely pretending not to hear the second question.

Connor looked at him suspiciously, "Well at least it's fair." He held his hands in the same position. Then all of the girls, red, blue, and green, all huddled around as though this was a grand tournament.

"Rock." Connor's eyes held strong determination.

"Paper." Masayoshi's mouth twitched slightly.

"Scissors!" The two teens threw their hands, now in new positions, on their palms, sweat gleaming on their face.

Masayoshi held the rock in his hand and flipped it around, an all-knowing smile on his face, "There, rock beats scissors."

Connor got real close to Masayoshi, he began to yell at Connor in a harsh whisper as the girls began to murmur amongst themselves, "Idiot! What do you think you're doing?! Using magic in front of all of the girls?"

Masayoshi looked somewhat puzzled, "Magic? What are you talking about? I just pulled a rock out of my pocket."

Connor rolled his eyes, "Yeah yeah, so you're saying you have a pair of scissors and a slip of paper in your pocket too?"

Masayoshi reached into his pocket and pulled out a pair of scissors and a slip of paper, a smirk slowly appearing on his face.

Connor let go of him and sighed, looking back at the girls, "OK, Masayoshi gets to decide on the first game."

Masayoshi put a finger on his chin, tapping it rhythmically, "Well… I think my girls would beat your girls at… how about a treasure hunt?"

Negi's face suddenly brightened, "A treasure hunt? Wow, I've never been on one of those before… what do you have to do?"

Masayoshi sat down cross-legged with his chin resting on his palm, "Well… you get to choose one person from every team to pick a card, the rest of the team will help you find it, but they aren't allowed to know what it is. First team to get their card complete wins… that sounds sort of fun right?"

Many of the girls nodded, Masayoshi's magical smile spreading across their faces. The twins nodded in agreement their childish smiles contagious, Natsumi's eyes met Masayoshi's once and she proceeded to stare at the floor, a red blush slowly creeping across her cheeks, Evangeline stared at Masayoshi's face dead-on, whether she was examining him, or… much more possibly, thinking of what that face would look like when she finally cornered him, was unknown to the girls.

Many of Connor's harem… er… group… also nodded in silent agreement, Connor quickly scanned through his team to see who chose him; he smirked to find Sunshine, Kaede, Haruna and many of the other girls that blushed when he looked at them in the eye… well he sometimes tried to avoid looking Haruna in the eye, sometimes there was a dangerous glint that made him feel like… Connor shuddered.

Negi smiled happily, and looked at his group wondering who else was smiling; Asuna was glaring at Masayoshi, nothing new, Chachamaru was dangerously close, Negi noticed that most of the girls weren't too happy with the game, or… seemed very uninterested. Negi quickly went over to the portion of his group that appeared to simply want to disappear off the face of the planet. "Um… girls?"

They all looked at him, their eyes locked onto his, their boredom and depression overwhelming the child teacher. Negi suddenly felt the gloom of the secondary characters fill his body, piercing the very marrow of his bones. Negi struggled to find his voice, but he was finally able to say, "You know… we need some girls to put this on the air… and I bet you girls would most likely…"

In a flash, orders were yelled out and the forces were scrambled to do everything, in about five minutes the entire squad constructed a well made camera team and reporter cast that would have made Asakura's eyes widen. Negi smiled inwardly as he took note that every girl that was working now had a small happy smile, as though happy to be finally recognized.

-

Connor stood in the middle of the schoolyard, his arms crossed, behind him was his troupe of well organized girls, each one bearing a confident smile and held their heads high, no defeat, no mercy.

Masayoshi stood on the other side of the schoolyard, yet not far enough away to not be able to be seen. He rested his hands behind his head, his eyes narrowed and his lips curved in an omniscient smirk. His team stood defiant, they were the underdogs, but they won't go down.

Negi stood awkwardly between them; he shuffled his feet, and looked at the sky, sighing deeply. His girls though, seemed to counter his anxiety with sheer determination for the win; they proudly stood behind their prodigy, preparing themselves for their victory.

Negi drew three slips of paper from Masayoshi's high school cap, he looked at them and smiled, glancing at both sides, he yelled out the first name, "From Connor's Femme Fatale… Ku Fei!" he paused as the girls cheered for the red faced girl.

Negi grabbed another piece of paper, he looked at it and nodded, "From Masayoshi's…Black Book?" he looked at the group puzzled by their name.

Masayoshi looked equally puzzled, and about to burst out in a fit of laughing, "Connor! That isn't fair buddy!"

Connor shrugged apologetically, "When you said we were deciding each other's group names, I thought you were going to give us a stupid name, sorry 'bout that!"

Masayoshi waved it off as the girls behind him appeared to sprout a few bloody noses, the fool never noticed.

Negi shook his head, unperturbed by the name, "From Masayoshi's Black Book… we have Natsumi!" he smiled at the winner; she immediately shied into the crowd of blue after Masayoshi patted her shoulder in congratulations.

Negi pulled out a third name, "And finally from Negi's Nobody's…." he looked straight ahead with his mouth gaping.

Masayoshi and Connor simultaneously fell on the ground and began to roll around laughing. After a few moments Connor got up, "I'm sorry Negi, you're guys' real name is Negi's Greens… that in itself is a pun, but unfortunately none of the readers would understand this due to their lack of imaginative, yet stupid, puns that the reader could simply come up with from the top of his head." Connor blinked and began to walk around, unsure of what just happened.

Negi cocked his head to the side in confusion, "What?" Connor shook off the question with an equally puzzled stare. Negi shook his head and looked at the paper again, "OK, from my team we have… Zazie Rainyday." He turned to the silent girl and was surprised to find that her face was not of surprised joy, but of almost tearful joy. She silently nodded a very happy smile on her face.

Masayoshi pulled out a deck of normal playing cards from his side pocket, with a few fancy tricks like shuffling them in midair, which he accomplished by throwing one card up at a time with both hands so that they're timed so with every hit they'll go up a bit more, then he snapped his fingers on the deck and three random cards popped up. He smiled, happy that he didn't mess up, and waved the three chosen girls over, "OK, these cards have an object on their back, you each choose one, it's no matter which one, all you need is one, don't worry they're all on campus so need to go to town." The three each plucked one out of his hand and looked at it. Masayoshi dropped the deck into his pocket and with a final clap, the games began.

-

Connor looked at Ku Fei, wondering what she had to look for, it must be difficult because the team was in the forest and she was scratching her head in a bemused matter. Connor sighed as she snapped her fingers, "I know! I know! Connor-sensei! I need you go that way!"

The other girls looked at Ku Fei suspiciously, after all, every girl present had that one sinful desire, and their lead girl sends him away? They had their reasons.

Connor looked in the way that she pointed, then without a single word, walked off the path and into the forest.

-

Negi stared at Zazie and shared her confusion, Masayoshi obviously made this game difficult. Zazie's face broke into a small smile, she turned her head to face her team, "I know where to find this now."

-

Masayoshi twiddled his thumbs as Natsumi leaned on his back to figure out the answer, he was sitting on the dry dirt, the rest of his team playing volleyball, Masayoshi smirked as some of his team were smiling happily under the sun, _it's a good place Mahora… nice girls… nothing around here to pollute the purity of young hearts… well maybe except for Connor… and me._ He suddenly felt a small tug on his arm, he turned to face a smiling Natsumi.

Natumi grabbed his hand, "I think I know where I can find this…"

-

Connor felt the sharper, stubbier braches cut into his arm, he winced a bit, surprised that these little things can hurt so much, after what felt like an eternity of walking he reached a rather pleasant clearing, there in the middle was a small bush bearing small red berries. He smiled inwardly to see such a pretty thing in the middle of such a dangerous forest. A twig snapped from somewhere behind him, Connor quickly dived and rolled on his side, his hand reaching for some… thing to use as a weapon, but he immediately relaxed when the figure emerged.

Ku Fei held her hands up over her head, a delicate smile on her face, "I surrender."

-

Masayoshi was pulled into the changing room available for the girls when they do plays, he felt a floating sensation in his stomach as he heard the lock click on the door handle, he did not expect this to happen… no bloody way.

Natsumi faced him, but she stared at the floor, "I found what the card told me to find…"

-

Zazie pulled out an album from her room, Negi staying in the hall. She walked over to him and both of them peered into the contents of the said album, it was filled with pictures of Zazie doing tricks, fascinating young and old alike, bringing in crowds of fans, there some pictures of her actually in the shopping district doing tricks, Negi was amazed, he suddenly felt a bit closer to his student.

Zazie smiled weakly, "Looks like we win."

-

Masayoshi laughed as he scraped off any gunk on the dishes, he passed it over to Connor who proceeded to clean it with a soapy rag, Masayoshi shook his head, his laughter dying away, "Well well, isn't that kinky! I'm sorry man, I never thought any of that would happen…"

Connor clicked his tongue, "It was nothing… she just… kissed me… and then she just sort of passed out…" he laughed weakly, "I guess I'm too much for her to handle…"

Masayoshi smiled, he paused when he was about to grab another dish, but then took off his gloves and reached into the front pocket, he threw three cards onto the table. Connor came over, curiosity drawing him nearer. Masayoshi flipped them over, the first was Ku Fei's, _kiss your lover_.

Connor slapped Masayoshi upside the head, "What were you thinking writing that down!?"

Masayoshi rubbed the back of his head, blinking stinging tears from the abruptness of the hit, "Not my fault… these cards were designed that whoever holds them will give themselves their own task, they'll set out for it, Ku Fei's heart wanted her card to say this, so it did…"

Connor looked at another card, _prove to yourself you're better than average._ He picked it up, "Whose is this?"

Masayoshi took the card, he frowned when he took it but smiled gaily when he read it, "This is Natsumi's. She locked me in the changing room with her, she asked me if I thought she was average-looking."

Connor snorted, "What'd you say?"

Masayoshi shrugged as he picked up the final card, "I told her she was the prettiest girl I've ever met."

Connor rolled his eyes, "That's cheesy and kinky."

Masayoshi laughed airily, "At least I didn't get snogged on a treasure hunt."

Connor swiped the card from Masayoshi hand; he looked at it, raised a brow, then passed it to Masayoshi, "This is Rainyday's?"

Masayoshi looked at the card a proud smile on his face now; _show the world you're important._ My favorite one, I'm glad it was Zazie's… I seen her perform out in the shopping district, I'm telling you, there are people that go there just to see her… but you know, she comes off as one of those people that have little self-confidence. I think she's good now though, she looked a lot happier when she brought her treasure.

Connor closed his eyes and sighed, "You're too much of a saint you know that?"

Masayoshi snapped his gloves back on, "I know, I know."

**-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**

_I loved writing this! This was freaking awesome to write! I really hope you guys enjoy it! Because… it's midnight… wow… I've been up quite a while haven't I? And on a bleeding school night! Well review please! And I want a review from someone that's never reviewed before, rarely reviews, and one of my constants! Yay constants!_

Slight Translations/Explanations:

Author Cameos- Masayoshi explains that this is a filler!

Author Cameos- Connor states that no reader would understand the author's odd sense of humor.

Author's odd sense of humor – read below

Black Book- I'm not sure… but I heard that one of my perverted friends has one, so I think it's perverted… if not, I'm referencing Masayoshi's leather bound book.

Negi's Greens – Negi is onion, onions are green, green onions… 1…2…3… "Oh! We get it!"


	10. Treachery

_Well I hope you guys enjoyed my previous chapter, I'm sure you did... here we go to the rest of the plot! Hmm... I wonder what might possibly might be going on eh?_

**Disclaimer: Negima! doesn't belong to me, neither does Connor, Moro, or other OC's that might appear. I do however own Masayoshi and half of this storyline… which really is depleting quickly.**

**-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**

**Messed Up**

"Are you serious!?" Masayoshi grit his teeth, anger seething through his body, he was shaking slightly. He was standing outside of the school, the girls were all playing around and no one would bother him while he was in this mood.

The voice on the other line answered after a slight pause, "I fear I am… and well… I'm actually surprised you didn't suspect him first…" the voice was calm, smooth, yet holding the tone of someone who is trying to soothe a small angry child.

Masayoshi's left hand clenched, his nails digging into palm, he closed his eyes and took a deep shaky breath, "I didn't think he would… but it all makes sense now… thank you…"

The voice on the other side laughed slightly, "Just be sure to complete your mission, you no longer have that elbow room you so cherished in times past."

Masayoshi nodded, "I don't need elbow room in this mission… this is something I can do… without any shortcuts…"

The phone crackled slightly and turned off, leaving a determined Masayoshi standing alone in front of the main entrance. He closed his phone slowly, as though to absorb the information he was just told of. He closed his eyes once more and breathed in deeply, his anger slowly dissipating and becoming nothing more than a useless memory.

-

Konoka happily ate the meat bun, her taste buds having a party. She turned her head to face outside, the paper doors were slid open so she could see the first snows of winter, Setsuna was outside practicing her swordsmanship while the monk, Jennifer Destine, was spinning around her hooked spear in incredible ways. Konoka reached for another meat bun, but stopped when a cell phone began to vibrate on the table, giving off an irritable clicking sound as it constantly hit the table's hard wooden top, with the constant vibrations the wood hit the woven rug which then made a funny scratching sound. Konoka quickly made a grab for the small phone, but Jennifer already had it to her ear.

Jennifer put some of her longer strands of hair and tucked it behind her ear, with that same arm she held her opposite side and rested her right arm on the left. She smiled as she talked, "Yo." But mere seconds after she said that single greeting her smiling face dropped to reveal something a bit more scared…

Setsuna walked in, her face a mix of annoyance and slight concern. She motioned to Konoka, and was hit in the face with a meat bun. She walked over and sat by Konoka, "Why did you throw that at me?"

Konoka smiled, "Well you went like this." Konoka acted out Setsuna's motion, holding her hand out palm up, then curling her fingers toward her, and repeating it. "I thought you wanted one of the meat buns…"

Jennifer nodded, she was shaking violently now, her face contorted in fear, "I-I understand sir… I won't fail… for our future as mankind… I will never allow this to go any further… what? Where is it?"

Setsuna and Konoka both watched in interest as Jennifer quickly grabbed a piece of paper and a pen, she jotted something down, and nodded at the same time, "M…A…O… what? An H? Um… alright… the four o' clock train… yes of course, I won't fail… thank you."

Konoka raised her hand, as though asking permission to talk, "Um… Jennifer-san? Who was that?"

Jennifer lounged on the side of her dresser, holding one hand to her face, slowly rubbing her temples to try to rid herself of a rather distressing headache, she swiped a meat bun from the table and took an enormous bite from it, "It was a call from one of my friends… he's a demon slayer… we've worked together for some time, and he called me to tell me he found a rather interesting place where some satanic magic was used highly. He thinks that there is a good chance that due to all of the dark magic once used there… some spirits may appear… he told me that as an exorcist, it is my duty to go there and do what I can for the students."

Setsuna eyed Jennifer warily, "Students?"

Jennifer nodded and put the rest of the meat bun in her mouth, then after licking her fingers clean, she finally answered, "I am to go to a school called Mahora… that's all I know." She then smiled, "Want to tag along?"

-

Connor picked at his lunchbox, uninterested in its contents, he was more focused on a certain Chinese girl a few tables away from him. She was laughing and talking with a few of the other girls, some from 3A, some from other classes. She would periodically look at Connor, then avert her eyes as though she were peering all over the room, and it was a simple coincidence that their eyes met. Connor sighed deeply and dropped his spork into the box, he picked it up and walked way throwing it into a trashcan and walking outside with his hands in his pockets.

Ku Fei glanced at the table Connor was sitting at, but frowned slightly to find he already left. She turned to the others, "Sorry, I go now." She grabbed her tray and dropped it into the same trashcan Connor put his lunch into. As soon as she left the building she dashed in the direction she thought Connor went.

-

The red robed man smiled as he watched the large object before him show Connor's progress. He munched on a meat bun as Elia appeared from the door behind him, "Judgemaster…" she crossed her arms behind her back, she had a large book strap across her shoulder, in the holder itself was a rather large leather-bound book. "An intruder had found his way into the stronghold… shall I deal with him?"

The man smirked, "So Fate finally shows its representative… yes, deal with him, simply keep him busy for now. Hopefully this'll be over before… any other rude interruptions appear.

Elia bowed and ran out of the door. The red robed man took another bite and held his chin in his hands, "In this sort of point of the game… it's best to sit back and let the pawns fight and see exactly what your opponent does in such situations, then… when you finally see what they do, you strike… with no mercy."

-

Connor walked down the forest path, his mind troubled, and his soul in total turmoil. He kept walking, not knowing exactly where he was going, but he felt as though he was being guided, he only gets these feeling when… "Serac? You out there?" his only answer was the swaying of the trees and the quiet whispering of the wind. Without looking back he proceeded to walk along the path, and he finally reached the path to the World Tree. He stopped and touched the trunk of the tree, he could feel the pure, untainted, natural magic of the tree resonate from within, he's heard stories from Negi that whenever he touches it, it feels as though the magic from that tree enters his own body and replenishes his strength, when Connor touched it, all he could feel was all of that magic three inches away from him, darting between his fingers, mocking him in all his wrongdoings, mocking him for not choosing the right path and instead taking shortcuts through both. He felt a sudden sense that someone was nearby and turned around abruptly to find Masayoshi touching the trunk too.

Masayoshi's eyes were staring dead ahead, as though boring through the wood to see that pure, untapped, reserve of magic. Though he did not face Connor, nor make any gesture to acknowledge his existence, he spoke, "You can't get any of it's magic either huh? That's to be expected though, this is raw magic, neither good nor evil… and for someone like you… someone who's using both… I must say forcing this magic into you would most likely rip you into a bloody mess… I can't get any either… but I wasn't expecting it too… natural magic isn't my forte…" He looked at Connor, no pleasant smile on his face, instead he looked like someone who just realized his favorite puppy just got shot when he was looking away. "The only kind of magic I can do is summoning things from rather divine planes… I can use spell circles but… well you've seen how that can mess up the world right?" he smiled maniacally, "You paid a heavy price for your magic right? Well I did too… all I got for it was that book… and even with the book I've…"

Connor took a step back as Masayoshi's fist was consumed in a blue fire. Masayoshi growled, "Argh! I'm not going to let this atrocity go on any further!" he pointed at Connor, "Divine Intervention awaits you!" he threw a fireball at Connor, who quickly sidestepped the flaming ball of death.

Connor quickly pulled out a large black sword from apparently nowhere, "What the hell do you think you're doing!"

Masayoshi swept his hand across his chest, then a magic circle appeared, he reached his hand into the the small circle in the middle, his hand didn't come out the other side, when he pulled out his hand it emerged wielding a very large two handed sword, his eyes were shining with anger, "Rot in Hell Connor!" He dashed toward Connor and swung his rather large sword at him.

Connor jumped back, his sword on his back, he stood up and pointed at Masayoshi, "You want to fight? Alright we'll fight." With a small sneer he held out his hand, palm forward, he cocked his head and a blast of inky darkness burst forth and struck Masayoshi in the chest.

Masayoshi's eyes flared wide with pain and surprise as he collapsed, gasping as his body succumbed to the magic… once he regained some of his strength he glared at Connor, "Doesn't seem as bad as I though it'd be… black magic sure isn't what it used to be…" he spat on the ground.

Connor shrugged, "I don't want to kill you, so I'm holding back… besides… you don't have your book, so I'm just making sure you can fight without losing your life you traitorous punk."

Masayoshi closed his eyes and relaxed, his body slumped on the ground, "Yes well… I suppose I am a bit weaker without my book…" he snapped his fingers as though he's been beaten, "Looks like I can't win…"

Connor suddenly found himself waist-deep in some sort of black and blue void, it looked as though Masayoshi took a giant pair of scissors, cut a chunk of the night sky, and glued it right below Connor. He looked down at the void and back at Masayoshi, who began to get up and dust himself off, Connor rolled his eyes, "I did not see that coming. Touché! Connor clapped his hands and the void disappeared, but he remained waist-deep in the ground.

Masayoshi laughed as he pulled out a slip of paper from his front pocket, "Still a bit dumb aren't ya Connor?" his eyes widened and he fell to the ground as a large blast of air nearly sliced his head off.

Connor wiped the dirt of his pants, "You're dead now." He ran up to Masayoshi as the teen tried to regain his footing and gave him a hard right hook. Masayoshi cheek collided with the rocketing fist and his neck jerked back in an odd angle, along with a sickening crack. Connor thought he might have broke his neck, but this thought was dashed when Masayoshi's foot found it's way to Connor's right hip.

Masayoshi fell to the ground, then using his two legs as a wedge he kicked Connor's feet from right under him, the rolled not a moment too soon to the right as Connor topple down where he once lay. Masayoshi stood up and delivered a driving kick into the ground, his foot sunk a bit into the ground… just ground. He looked around, his eye twitching and his mouth curled in a tight sneer, "Connor! Oh Connor come out come out wherever you are! He heard the near-silent sound of leaves being brushed by the wind… or maybe a desperate hider, "I found you!" He pointed at the top of a tree and in that instant, a magic circle appeared, from the center of that magic circle was a small flame, but about .01 seconds after that little flame appeared, it turned into a flamethrower… without the entire gun part… oddly enough the flames appeared to do nothing to the actual tree, such was so fascinating about Masayoshi's magic.

Connor jumped down from the World Tree, from a branch coincidentally set above Masayoshi's head, Masayoshi never seen it coming.

Or did he? Masayoshi sensed Connor's treachery about a second before impact and he literally jumped back and hit his skull on the tree trunk, he rubbed the back of his head, "Ah tch tch tch… that wasn't too smart on my part…"

Connor rubbed his fist, "No… not too much…"

Masayoshi pulled out his infamous pen, "Alright then… shall we begin? For real this time?"

Connor grabbed his sword from the ground, he heaved it up onto his shoulder and smirked, "Go for it."

Masayoshi held a hand to his forehead, "You do know… because of my ties with the time… I know that I will win this fight… it's fate man… don't fight it."

Connor put his body in a fighting stance, the tip of his sword aiming at Masayoshi's throat, "I know fate… and there are plenty of ways of getting around it…"

-

Serac stood at the end of a rather long hallway, his coarse brown hair covering his left eye, he took his left hand and brushed it away, his gaze looking at everything, at all times, at every angle. He turned his omniscient glare to the girl who just locked the door on the opposite end, about half of a football field away. She leaned on the door and examined Serac carefully.

Elia yelled out in a strong willed voice, "Serac of Fate! You are trespassing in neutral territory! I must ask you to leave!"

Serac did not yell back, nor did he even open his mouth, but Elia could sense his presence, and his response, in the far recesses of her mind, _Nuetral? Your lying…_ the voice in his head seemed bored out of his mind, _Your master is interfering with things he shouldn't be messing with… tell him to stop._

Elia shook her head, a defiant smile on her delicate lips, "You can't do anything, if you fight, that's not what you're supposed to be doing…"

Serac was nearing her now, his steady footsteps like the slow steps of Death himself. Serac now spoke physically, "I am here to ensure that Fate's work is being done. You, the chosen ones to balance out power, have decided to corrupt these plans and make it for your own entertainment."

Elia didn't smirk, instead it was a disgusted frown, "Hypocrite. This was entertainment to begin with, for Heaven and Hell… Ha! For all they care, we're just making your little 'show' a bit more interesting."

Serac stopped just a few inches away from her, Elia could sense that horrible omniscient state that kept that man's mind on the border of insanity and heavy mental corruption. He seemed utterly determined to walk to the gates of hell and back, actually Elia didn't doubt that he might have done that very task before. "Let me pass."

Elia pointed at his chest, a fearful smile on her face, with a whisper of magic Serac slid all the way back to the other door, his feet never left the floor. Elia shouted again, feeling more and more invincible, "You can't win Serac! It's already over before it began! You lose!"

Serac tugged at the strings keeping his cloak on, he tightened it, then he looked at Elia with a bored expression, "You're right… it's already over before it began."

**-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**

_Haahahaha! Serac is getting badass! Well I'm actually happy with the plot thus far! I'm actually starting to use my OC's a bit too much now... next chapter I'm going to get a bit more Negi and the girls in OK? See you next chapter!_

Slight Translations/Explanations:

Elia- Servant to the Judgemaster, her past is unknown.

Judgemaster- A man trying to use Masayoshi and Connor for shady reasons.

Serac- Infiltrating the enemy stronghold, and about to kick Elia's... well you get the picture.

Masayoshi- Pissed to no end.

Connor- Confused.


	11. Fate Binds All

_Ever notice that when I really want to I update really fast? Whoa… crazy. Well here we are at the conclusion of a great many things, yet don't think it's done yet, we still have a bit more ground to cover until we see the final comclusion! Stand by and let's hope I get through this without some sort of unexpected death ruining the story aye?_

**Disclaimer: Negima! doesn't belong to me, neither does Connor, Moro, or other OC's that might appear. I do however own Masayoshi and half of this storyline… which is slowly going to my favor since I've been uploading so rapidly I'm forced to use my own ideas! Whoo me!**

**-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**

**Messed Up**

Masayoshi fell to the ground, his sword disappearing into a magic circle. He coughed twice and lifted his head to look at Connor. Masayoshi looked horrid, his eyes were dull, his hair was messed up, his band that kept his ponytail in place was somewhere near the base of the tree, his long hair now hanging an inch away from his shoulder. Masayoshi raised his hands shakily above his head, the universal symbol for surrender.

Connor looked at Masayoshi with a bored look on his face, "Wasn't too much of a fight you put up Masayoshi. Here I expected you to do something amazing." He cracked his neck on both sides and stood victorious.

Masayoshi laughed wearily, "I guess I'm a pushover without my book huh? I can't even remember any incantations… my pen already ran out of magic, looks like the win is yours… I'm dead." He made his hand in the shape of a gun and held it to his head, pulling the "trigger" and thus losing his life. "Of course… I guess technically I've been dead for quite some time…"

Connor rolled his eyes, "Enough with the sentimental crap, tell me why you suddenly decided to betray me."

Masayoshi shrugged, "I got a bad tip… someone said you had my book. I guess I just overreacted…"

Connor sighed, letting the tip of his sword hit the dirt, "What the hell would I want with your bloody book!?"

Masayoshi shrugged, "Oh I don't know… if you knew just a fraction of what that thing is capable of I'm sure you'd understand…"

Connor laughed, "Alright alright, looks like we've got ourselves a deal!"

Masayoshi looked quite confused, as any person in their right mind would be, "Deal? I don't recall a deal…"

Connor shook his head, "If I can somehow do something to get your book back… I want a wishe."

Masayoshi looked at Masayoshi in disbelief, "Do I look like a genie to you?"

Connor shrugged, "At the state your in, I'd think you'd be begging for my help. Besides, better than three wishes… I'm just asking for one… enough for me … to get what I want."

Masayoshi sighed in defeat, "If you can get me my book back… I'll give you your damned wish, seeing that I've failed here… I suppose doing a few other things won't be much of a problem…"

-

The red robed man slammed his fist into the arm of his chair, his eyes glinted in slight anger, "Damn!" but he quickly regained his composure, "Masayoshi… you're a fool… but it is no matter… you still have more missions to do for me… and those you shall not fail…"

-

Elia hit the wall, her head was pounding from strain, she tried to focus her mind on the task, but all she could think of was her possible death, and the horrible realization of why Serac could fight her. With every passing moment all she could think of was how many people she's failed.

_Elia bowed before a large council, beside her where many other people, just like her, in a great long line. On the far end, smiling like a fool, was Masayoshi, he looked different than he did back then, his hair was short, his glasses were clinging on the end of his nose, no worries in the world. Farther down the line from Elia was Sho, his heart untainted, his mind at ease. Elia herself was smiling, oblivious to their future, a future of servitude, murder, countless sins, all for the sake of humanity's survival._

She opened the book, but Elia couldn't read the writing, her vision was fading, she couldn't go any further… Elia stared up at Serac, she tried to beg for mercy using her thoughts, but it seemed as though something was blocking her out from even being able to attempt such a thing, "Er… you… you win…"

Serac looked at her and reached down, Elia's eyes flared open, she could see the coldness in his eyes as he reached down to deliver the death blow.

"_You are the saviors of our future, mages with great power, you are the ones unbound to the ties of fate, you are no longer bound to the laws of man, yet you serve as man's servant, if you fail, you will be nothing more than a simple shadow, history will never recall you, no one will remember you. Fate itself no longer holds anything to you, this is both a great prize and a great loss, no longer will you enjoy the pleasantries of a normal human life, yet you can do all but destroy the ties of fate… you simply do not exist."_

Elia felt a cold wave of realization wash over her; _of course I'm going to die… killing me won't affect a blasted thing… I don't exist… I simply don't exist…_ Elia's sight faded out, leaving only a merciless black pit that was once held her soul.

-

"Could you please stop hugging me? I think I'm going to pass out quite soon… yes very soon." Jessica whispered to Konoka.

Konoka was looking out the window of the train, a wide smile on her face, "Setchan! Look! You can see the forest! Waa? Who's that?" Konoka pointed at the far edge of the forest, from her sight, there were two cloaked figures running at extreme speeds toward the school.

Setsuna quickly went over to Konoka's side, "What's the matter Konoka-ojou-sama?" Konoka didn't have to answer. Setsuna opened the window and dived out, ignoring the cries from Konoka to come back. Setsuna quickly unsheathed her prized Nodachi and ran, the two figures looked ghastly, they couldn't have possibly be human, they both had large black cloaks, with hoods that created a shadow over their facial features, their entire body was covered in some sort of fading white bandages, as though keeping them together. As she neared the two creatures one turned abruptly and sprinted toward the train, keeping its body almost parallel, it was as though the legs were trying to catch up with the torso.

Setsuna, without a second thought, ran after the one that turned, she could see its face now; it was the face of a gaunt, haggard human male, he was pale, as pale a corpse, his nose was straight and pointed, his eyes were blue, but they shone yellow, there was no expression on his face other than sheer determination. As he ran toward the slowing train, Setsuna caught the glimpse of a thin sword hidden beneath the long billowing cloak. She grit her teeth and jumped towards the man, but as she neared the man he quickly dodged by jumping to the right.

The man faced her, his face showing something between a trance to man who has just recently been woken up. He looked at her, and that was it, he didn't motion toward his sword, which now since he's stopped moving Setsuna recognized the blade to be some sort of rapier, a weapon used in swift and deadly striking techniques, Setsuna has never trained to fight against something like that. The man's eyes shone, not with fear, not with anger, it seemed as though something behind that man's eyes was moving. He quickly drew his rapier and pointed it at Setsuna, "Your time is at an end. None but the righteous few shall live on in the haven." His voice was airy and it sounded strained, as though being forced to say such things.

Setsuna snarled and prepared her sword, but before any of the two managed to even take a step forward, a strong gust of wind swept through the open street. Setsuna thought it was an enemy trick so she quickly tried to reach the man and interrogate him, but to her horror, the man was dissolving like a pile of sand in a tornado.

The man sheathed his sword, "Fate has conspired against you." His voice faded as his body slowly disintegrated.

Setsuna stared at where he was, and sheathed her sword, her face a mix of fear and confusion. She looked to where the train was stopping and bowed to the emerging Jessica and Konoka, "I apologize… I have been unsuccessful."

Jessica waved her hand, "No worries, even if you did catch up to them I doubt you would have killed one. I've heard about them, they're remnants of the old Angels."

Konoka's eyes widened, "You mean the ones that were on the news? The guys that were killing everybody a few weeks ago?"

Jessica nodded, "Bingo! But as you might have noticed, those guys aren't too normal; I suspect they're just magic puppets…"

Setsuna and the others looked at the place where the man last stood, nothing left to possibly vouch for his existence. She then looked in the direction of the school, wondering if Negi knew if anything was going on.

-

"Oblivious!" Negi smiled, "Can anyone give me an example of something having to do with the word oblivious?"

Makie raised her hand, shouting, "Ooh! Ooh! Pick me Negi-kun!"

Negi smiled and nodded his head, "Makie-san."

Makie stood up, "Oblivious is like when someone likes you and you don't realize it, you're oblivious!"

Negi nodded, "That's good! Anyone else?"

Yue raised her hand, "Oblivious such as being blinded from the facts."

Negi nodded, "That one's good too… does anyone have one pertaining to their lives?"

Fuka and Fumika raised their hand, "We know! We know!"

Negi looked at them, then slowly nodded.

"Oblivious is like eating chocolate pudding, even though you think it's vanilla!"

Most of the class laughed, most everyone knew about the girls' sweet tooth. Negi laughed as well, not forgetting the amount of money he paid for their ice cream once.

Asuna raised her hand, a cunning smile on her face, however, before Negi even called on her, she answered, "Oblivious is like how people don't believe in magic."

Negi paled, whereas most of the girls laughed, Nodoka, Yue, Kaede, Ayaka, Evangeline, Chachamaru… and all of the girls that knew about magic, laughed weakly, except for Evangeline and Chachamaru, they simply remained silent.

-

Konoka flipped open her cel lphone, "I'm going to tell grandpa that we're back! Hopefully we can go on like nothing happened. Right Se-tsu-na?"

Setsuna coughed once, "Erm… yes of course Ojou-sama. Hopefully… everything… will…" her eyes became sad as she looked toward the old ruined clock tower.

Konoka frowned and hugged her guardian, "It's OK… it's fate… no one can fight fate…"

-

"So you're telling me to fight fate!?" Masayoshi looked back to normal, obviously nearly bishounen mages have a spell that makes them look back to normal whenever they want.

Connor nodded, the two were now walking down the path back to the school, "That's not a problem is it? I mean that is technically your job."

Masayoshi shook his head, "You idiot! That may be my job, but my bosses carefully follow the paths and they know exactly what will happen if I do anything, everything is a plan! Telling me to do this… this is insane! Even if I am successful, the effects on the present, now, would be… er… I don't know… and that's why it's dangerous!"

Connor laughed a bit, "Wow, didn't think it'd be this difficult! All I want you to do is find a way to save Asakura from dying. Jeez, Negi saved me and he didn't do any of this crap."

Masayoshi rubbed the back of his neck, "Yeah… and it's because of that this is all happening…"

Connor looked at him, 'What's that supposed to mean!?"

Masayoshi sighed, "I was supposed to kill Negi a long time ago to prevent him from doing this… I tried to stop him… but… then now that you're here… I'm supposed to kill you, but I already failed that mission, so I have to think of a different way to fix all of this…"

Connor shook his head, "Well… tell me if you think of anything OK?"

Masayoshi nodded as the school began to get closer and closer, it was just after noon, yet that fight in the forest felt like it was pitch black night, perhaps they were fighting for an entire day…

-

The red robed man turned from his "show" and faced the newcomer, "Welcome Serac of Fate, to my humble abode."

Serac looked around, seemingly interested, "I fear your welcoming party has partied herself out."

The man shrugged, "Such is the use of a pawn, now I know that you're allowed to harm the one's not under fate's laws."

Serac shook his head, "The girl is connected to fate, just like the rest of you. You believe you are untouchable, yet so long as you meet another human being tied to fate, you've entangled yourself bit by bit."

The man sneered, his eyes shining in anger, "You're a blasted fool! I'm helping you! Fate has lost control over humans, I'm just trying to help..."

"Fate regain absolete dominance over man again?" Serac finished.

The man nodded, "Yes, to simply… you knew what I was going to say?" his face was suddenly fixed in fright.

Serac nodded, then vanished. The torches on the walls flickered as though a breeze went by. The red robed man frowned and touched his brow, but then smiled, "No matter, if Fate tries to take me, it simply means war."

**-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**

_Well well, seems that everything is coming together! Now here's something I have to ask you, as the reader, you all have a voice, so please review or PM me to tell me OK? I can finish the story in about… three to four more chapters, I already have an outline set up with everything I want on it, and I'm sure I can piece it together in about three chapters, four if I try. But I'm sure you guys want a story that reaches at least 20 chapters right? Or is that too long? Well just review this and tell me what you want, and don't tell me "Whatever you think is best" because that'll just irritate me! From your heart, do you want me to wrap the story up, or would you rather see me throw in a few non-plot orientated chapters? Whatever you guys want._

_I want to try to finish around the same time True Serac does, because when someone reads his story and finishes, they'll go "ah well that was a great story, too bad it's over… oh what's this? Some guy named Master Masa Random wrote a sequel too? Might as well check it out!" see? Aren't I a genius?_

Slight Translations/Explanations:

Um… nothing… I think.


	12. Christmas Filler I

_Here's the Christmas Filler! I hope you guys enjoy it as much as I enjoyed writing it! And no, I didn't abandon this story, however it'll be under repair for a bit, cause I'm currently working on a major major turning point in the story, and unfortunately I forget to write out a solid plan for this part and now I'm stuck... but I'll be ok! Enjoy The Christmas Filler part 1!_

**Disclaimer: Negima! doesn't belong to me, neither does Connor, Moro, or other OC's that might appear. I do however own Masayoshi and half of this storyline.**

**-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**

**Messed Up**

"Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house, not a creature was stirring not even a mouse." Takamichi read out from the old Christmas book on the side of the stage, where he alone stood out, the area around him blank, thus you would look more to the cosplay than to the reader himself.

Masayoshi walked… er… crawled onto stage wearing two little mouse ears and little whiskers, other than that he wore his uniform, but it was a gray one, so he looked more like a mouse.

The girls of 3A clapped and aww'd Masayoshi's look, they would have clapped if he walked on looking absolutely normal as well. Since Negi decided to make a small skit for the girls for all their hard work this year, they were wondering what the child teacher could possibly do, and so far, they loved it.

Masayoshi curled up into a ball and pretended to sleep, a light hit a lone bed near the right side of the stage, the girls could finally see an adorable Negi sleeping within the blankets, he was dressed in sleeping robes with a matching hat.

Takamichi went on, "The stockings were hung by the chimney with care, in hopes of Saint Nicholas soon would be there."

Masayoshi, now obviously one of the props crew, quickly jumped up and ran to the large paper box that was supposed to be a fireplace, he quickly reached into his jacket and pulled out a few stockings and stuck them on, then went back to the corner.

Takamichi laughed a little but continued, "The children were nestled all snug in their beds, while visions of sugarplums danced in their head.

Another light shot out and illuminated Fuka and Fumika sleeping in a bed, looking as cute as ever.

"And mamma in her kerchief, and I in my cap, had just settled our brains for a long winter's nap."

Nodoka stumbled on stage, her face fixed in sheer embarrassment, but she managed to find her way to Negi's bed and crawl in.

Many of the girls have rarely heard this song, and they definitely do not remember any M rated scenes in the rhyme… right?

"When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter I sprang from my bed to see what was the matter."

Negi, his cue forgotten, appeared to truly have fallen asleep. Masayoshi got up and sighed, then after a few moments of shaking Negi, there was a loud reverberating slapping sound. Negi fell out of the bed, and with a gentle push, managed to get to the window taped onto the stage wall.

"Away to the window I flew like a flash, tore open the shutters and threw up the sash."

Negi did as the poem told him to do.

Masayoshi sighed and went back to the corner.

"The moon, on the breast of the new-fallen snow, gave luster of midday to objects below, when what to my wondering eyes appear, but a miniature sleigh and eight tiny reindeer."

To everyone's surprise Connor walked in wearing a size too large Santa costume, he was fuming. In his hands was a rope connected to Ku Fei, who was wearing a collar. She wore a little reindeer antler cap and had a little red ball stuck onto her nose.

Connor looked at Masayoshi, "Why do I have to be Santa!?"

Masayoshi sat up, cross-legged, "Well, Negi's too small, I'm a bit too small as well, and Takamichi has the best voice for rhyming."

Connor shook angrily, "FINE! But I don't even like bondage!"

Blood sprayed onto the stage by the girls, Takamichi sat there somewhat oblivious, but not before his mouth opened a bit in a slight gape.

Masayoshi laughed embarrassingly and walked up to Ku Fei, he removed the collar off her neck and strapped it onto her waist.

Ku Fei shrugged, "Work any way…"

Yet again a lovely volley of blood shot onto the stage.

Takamichi fell off the stool, petrified.

Masayoshi, for the spirit of cosplay everywhere, quickly ran to the poem book and continued, "With a little old driver, so lively and quick, I knew in a moment it must be Saint Nick."

Connor was still shaking, the girls didn't know whether to clap, laugh, scream, or run away in fear.

"Er… More rapid than eagles his coursers they came, and he whistled and shouted, and called them by name"

Connor opened his mouth for his line, "Now Dasher… Now Dancer… Now Prancer and Sunshine and the rest of your guys … To the top of the stage, get away from that wall! Now let's get out of here..."

Masayoshi, with his cunning smile playing about his lips, quickly grabbed Connor's arm, and with the strength of ten men, did not allow Connor to run off, "As dry leaves that before the wild hurricane fly, When they meet with an obstacle, mount to the sky; So up to the house tops the coursers they flew, with a sleigh full of toys and Saint Connor too!" The book was open, and Masayoshi could magically read it even from that distance.

Masayoshi continued, grabbing Connor with both hands, "And then in a twinkling, I heard on the roof the prancing and pawing of each little hoof-"

Ku Fei high kneed her way to the fireplace.

Masayoshi continued his smile growing, and like an epidemic, some of the girls smiled as well, "As I drew in my head, and was turning around, down the chimney St. Connor came with… a… bound!" Masayoshi actually threw Connor; he chucked the older boy, up and into the top of the fireplace.

Masayoshi ran back to the stool and continued at a much rapid pace, "Hewasdressedallinfur,fromhisheadtonhisfootandhisclotheswerealltarnishedwithashesandsoot;abundleoftoyshehadflungonhisbackandhelookedlikeapeddlerjustopeninghispack.Hiseyes,howtheytwinkled!Hisdimples,howmerry!Hischeekswerelikeroses,hisnoselikeacherry!"

Connor ripped the fireplace to shreds, pure anger burning in his eyes, he quickly ran across the stage with his arms outstretched to throttle the teenager, he was still connected to Ku Fei, so the young girl was being dragged behind him.

Masayoshi began to giggle uncontrollably, he sidestepped Connor, who flew past and made a crashing sound off-stage. "His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow, and the beard of his chin was as white as the snow, the stump of a pipe he held tight in his teeth, and the smoke it encircled his head like a wreath; he had a broad face and a little round belly that shook, when he laughed, like a bowl full of jelly."

The girls couldn't help themselves; they simply couldn't stop their imagination from seeing Connor representing Santa in any way possible. They laughed, and couldn't stop.

Connor reemerged, cracking his knuckles, and a manic smile on his face. Ku Fei dangled behind him, somewhat like a doll.

Masayoshi, oblivious to the threat, continued reading, "He was chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf, and I laughed, when I saw him, despite of myself." He turned to Negi, who was supposed to laugh.

Negi was cowering in the corner with Nodoka, from fear of Connor's rage.

Masayoshi shrugged, "A wink in his eye and a twist of his head, soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread; he spoke not a word, but went straight to his work, and filled all the stocking, then turned with a jerk."

Connor was slowly approaching Masayoshi; the girls looked at both teachers in dread, and some in anxiety.

"And laying his finger aside of his nose, and giving a nod, up the chimney he rose; he sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle, and away they all flew like the down of a thistle. But I heard him exclaim, 'ere he drove out of sight…" He turned to Connor with a smile on his face.

Connor punched Masayoshi so hard he flew off stage, Connor then turned to the crowd, "Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night." He turned to the direction Masayoshi flew off, "Except for you!"

**-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**

_There you have it, I know it's short but I think you've enjoyed it. My apologies if you don't celebrate Christmas, 'because I don't know any other holiday poetry… my next Christmas filler will be quite an enjoyment I think... I hope..._

Slight Translations/Explanations:

Um… nothing… I think. I mean you should understand all of this.


	13. Christmas Filler II

_In the early morning of Christmas Eve, dear Master Masa Random finishes his Christmas Filler and sleeps for a good two hours until he realizes he should post it up. Sorry it took so long, but I wanted this to fall on Christmas Eve!_

**Disclaimer: Negima! doesn't belong to me, neither does Connor, Moro, or other OC's that might appear. I do however own Masayoshi and half of this storyline.**

**-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**

**Messed Up**

"Have a Holly Jolly Christmas! It's the best time of the ye-ow! Connor? Why'd you hit me?" Negi looked at Connor, his eyes watery.

Connor exhaled sharply, "I know for a fact that the song does not have 27 verses! I also know that the song has more than just that verse repeated 27 times."

Masayoshi laughed, his breath becoming a stream of visible warm air in the cold night, "Give the boy a break Connor, 'tis the season to be jolly."

Connor growled a little and put his hands in his pockets, a dark blue wool winter coat keeping his body warm. Snow drifted onto his bandana, turning the black headwear white. A large black scarf was wrapped around his neck, covering his mouth actually.

Negi sighed and looked out towards the street, "So… what are we waiting for?" He wore a large blue jacket over his sweatshirt, his blue jeans kept his legs warm, as well as giving him a childish look. He was wearing a light blue bobble hat that covered his hair, all but his ponytail, sticking out of the back. Around his neck was a white furry scarf.

Masayoshi shrugged, "The girls are probably shopping, and that's what we get for meeting in the shopping district." He wore a thick black coat; it was long, nearly reaching his knees. The brass buttons shone lazily by the lamplight on the street sidewalks, his glasses reflected the yellow light, giving his glasses a golden appearance. He wore a black snap brim on his head, the seal of Mahora Gakuen on its front. His neck was covered by a warm fuzzy scarf as well; it was black with white tips.

Negi gasped, "Girls?" he turned to Connor, pulling on the older male's coat, "You said we were just going to have a guy's night out!"

Connor glanced a Negi, and then turned to the store, "Eh, I lied." He didn't catch Negi's betrayed look, one that looked at Connor as though Connor shot Negi's puppy.

Masayoshi smiled, and rested a hand on Negi's shoulder, "Don't worry about it Negi boy, Connor's just sour because he's now a couple with Ku Fei, and just lost his bachelorhood."

Connor swiftly turned around and jabbed at Masayoshi's chest with his index finger furiously, "It's not a date! It's a get-together! If it was a date I would have said it was! And I didn't lose my bachelorhood! I still have it!"

Masayoshi poked Connor's forehead with his index finger, "I bet that's not the only thing you still have."

Negi quickly separated the two before Connor got a chance to rip Masayoshi's freaking head off.

Negi, his energy exhausted, released Connor, who immediately dived for Masayoshi, who did nothing to defend himself other than point in the direction of the store, and said, "It's-!"

Masayoshi was tackled to the ground, struggling to keep alive, Connor was about to pull back and punch the boy in the face until he realized he was being stared at. Connor looked to his right and followed the shapely leg to the source.

Ku Fei, Natsumi, and Ayaka stared at Connor and Masayoshi with amused smiles. Connor and Masayoshi both smiled as though Connor wasn't about to kill Masayoshi and Masayoshi wasn't trying to desperately fight for his life, "Eh… Hi girls."

Ayaka quickly rushed to the side of the embarrassed Negi, Ku Fei to Connor the moment he stood upright and dusted the snow off of his jacket, and Natsumi to Masayoshi as soon as the lad could regain movement in his legs.

Ayaka put a hand on Negi's shoulder, comforting the boy. Ku Fei put her arms around Connor's right in a protective fashion. Natsumi didn't do anything of those sorts, but found her finger entangled around Masayoshi's hand, completely of their own accord.

Ayaka turned to Connor, "Well, where are we going to? The amusement park is still open I believe."

Connor shook his head, "Na, nothing like that, we're just going to go around the district, maybe buy some things, and then we can go to karaoke, you guys like karaoke right?"

The girls nodded, quite pleased with the plans, Negi was looking at his feet, trying to formulate what the heck he just go himself into, Masayoshi frowned slightly, but quickly put on a his façade, no one thought any differently.

Connor and Ku Fei led the way to a shop nearby, Natsumi, unsure of where to go, simply allowed Masayoshi to follow them; Negi was pulled along by Ayaka's grip.

-

Connor looked at a watch; it was pretty… for a watch. It shone silver in the bright light of the store, since it was silver, unlike the gold colored ones, it won't scratch and peel or discolor quite as badly. Connor smiled as the light reflected off the glossy surface and he could see Ku Fei behind him.

Masayoshi and Natsumi walked around hand-in-hand, Masayoshi generally doing the leading, examining every little shiny thing. Natsumi didn't try to remove her hand from his loose grip, her fingers were just entwined among his, just as is. Masayoshi picked up a small ring, it was simple, no special designs, no interesting or eccentric shape, just a small silver ring. Masayoshi smiled, "Lovely… absolutely beautiful." He turned to Natsumi, the smile not fading.

Natsumi blushed a deep deep red, she looked at her feet, making an odd whimpering sound, she misunderstood the question, believing Masayoshi was calling her beautiful.

Masayoshi smirked, understanding, but made no move to correct it.

Negi looked at a wrist band, it was very ornately made, lavished with a great many lines, each one creating a loop, that's where you put your arm, but someone thread the metal lines in and out, creating elaborate curves and a beautifully well-balanced accessory. Negi almost gasped.

Ayaka knelt down so she was eye-level with the child teacher, "It is beautiful isn't it?"

Negi nodded, holding the wrist band as though it was a long-lost treasure, "It's very beautiful…"

Ayaka came closer to Negi, "You know… it's not too expensive… and it comes in a set… you want one?"

Negi stared, dumbstruck as Ayaka went to the counter and requested the gifts, "I'll take the couple's set." The person gave her a small box, she passed a wad of money over to the lady on the other side, "Thank you."

"Happy Holidays dear."

Ayaka took Negi's hand, "Come on, everyone else is leaving, we shouldn't be left behind…"

Negi stared long and hard at Ayaka's face as the outside air turned her cheeks red, _She looks just like… Onee-chan… and she's being so nice…_

-

Ku Fei rested he head on Connor's arm, simply enjoying his company. Ayaka and Negi followed them closely, chatting about their family and home. Natsumi and Masayoshi followed the group a bit farther behind.

Masayoshi stopped and stared ahead smiling. Natsumi was about to ask what was wrong until he spoke, "You know… they should kiss."

Natsumi's jaw almost hit the sidewalk, "Wh-what? W-who?"

Masayoshi shrugged, "I just thought maybe Connor and Ku Fei should kiss before the night is over, you never know how much you love each other until you have that kiss."

Natsumi's jaw moved up and down, but no sound came out, Masayoshi shrugged again and walked at a faster pace to catch up to the group. Natsumi's eyes widened and she quickly grabbed his hand, her face growing warm as his fingers curled around hers.

-

"Er… hold on just a second guys, I believe my cell is ringing." Masayoshi stood up from his private table by the window. He bought out a private room with a table and a soundproof glass window.

"I… didn't hear anything." Connor's eyes narrowed in suspicion.

Masayoshi pulled his hat on, "It's set to vibration, why would I lie about that?" he bowed before he exited the room and as soon as it slid shut he dashed outside, standing by the window, his back pressed up on the wall, he seemed to disappear into the shadows, he flipped open a black cellular phone, "This is Ghost, do you read me Nightingale?"

"…this is Nightingale. I'm situated on the roof of the café… you sure about this?" A voice crackled from the other line.

Masayoshi smirked, "Oh I'm sure, now we prove just how mortal dear old Connor is… hehehe, don't miss."

-

"I have a clear shot, but it'll shatter the glass, you sure everything will work out?" the sound stopped crackling, Mana's cold voice broke through the static. Mana squinted through her scope, she could just barely make out a shady outline of Masayoshi. Her crosshairs were dead-on Connor's neck; she eyed the odd bullet in a small black box near her leg. She sat up, and picked it up, the bullet was 9mm, dart actually. The tip was glistening from… poison? As she rotated the dart she gasped as the metallic surface turned transparent then metallic again, she quickly held the walkie-talkie to her face, "What the hell is this thing?"

"Oh the bullet? It's from… the Soviet Union I think. The dart is. The liquid is my own made creation, the transparency is from my magic, and it'll actually completely disappear once it hits… its target. I'll liquefy the window, but just for about a second because that would be more eye-catching then the window shattering."

"…fine. You promised I would be paid whether I fail or not. Remember that, or these crosshairs will be on you next time."

"Relax, I'm a good kind of traitor."

-

Connor took a sip of the wine, then stared outside, "Wonder what's taking so long… well?"

Natsumi was looking out the window too, her hands were restless, she looked as though her hands were wrestling each other. She looked very uneasy, and even more so embaressed.

Ayaka took a deep draft of the bottle, her face becoming very red, "You know… I say we should start without him… Ooh! I get first pick!"

Negi quickly grabbed her arm to try to keep her from getting up, "No no! Ayaka-san! Please! You've drank too much! I didn't know non-alcoholic things could do this! Connor help me!"

Connor shrugged, "Looks like it was alcohol, sorry Negi, I lied again."

Ku Fei quickly dropped the glass she was holding, "Is real? Uh-oh…" she then looked at the countless other glasses she's already drunk, she turned a deep crimson red.

The door slid open and Masayoshi stepped in, smiling a little, "Sorry guys, it took a bit longer then I thought… I guess I'll…"

"…Happy Ready Go!!!"

"Please! Ayaka-san!"

Masayoshi sweatdropped, "Hey Connor… you do know she's underage right? I mean… this place has a camera…"

Connor shrugged, "Guess I forgot. Relax, she looks old enough."

Masayoshi smiled, and snapped his fingers, "Then let's drink up!"

ZZZING!

Connor's eyes widened as Ku Fei's hand touched his cheek.

Negi's face nearly caught aflame as Ayaka touched his cheeks, her face spreading in a warm caring smile.

Natsumi looked around confused, Masayoshi quickly brought his cp down covering his eyes, his smile only growing more and more wide.

-

Mana blinked in amazement, the dart hit the table and… exploded. A bright green light, lasting less than half a second, then the next moment…

-

Ku Fei leaned in and kissed Connor deeply, she tilted his head with her one free hand, the other holding herself up using the table. Connor's eyes opened with great surprise, then closed.

Ayaka quickly mashed her lips onto Negi's, Negi's body shook for a few seconds, then stopped moving. Ayaka's head was processing what the hell just happened, but the shotacon part of her body shut out the other part and just enjoyed the moment.

Natsumi looked around in pure confusion and felt as though she were invisible. But before she could turn around and see what Masayoshi thought of this she felt a hand touch her cheek and felt the soft touch of lips on her opposite cheek, "Wha-what…?"

A whispered voice in her ear, 'Merry Christmas."

"Masayoshi?" she turned around, but he wasn't there.

-

Mana blinked and turned around, to her surprise she came face to face with her proprietor.

Masayoshi held up a bottle of sake, "Here's your pay, let us drink to a job well done!"

Mana grabbed the bottle, "So… what was that?"

"A gaseous version of a sort of love potion, designed to only affect those who had such intentions in the first place. As you could probably see, the oblivious Connor and the innocent Negi didn't initiate first contact. So here's to a job well done!"

Mana looked down to the room via binoculars, "Negi's not moving."

"Yeah… didn't expect Ayaka to have such… shotacon fantasies with little Negi-sensei…"

"…you really haven't been here long have you?"

**-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**

_This was very fun to make. That is all. Merry Christmas everyone, or Hanukkah, or Kwanzaa… or other holidays I may have possibly forgotten… hehe, my pardons! _

Slight Translations/Explanations:

Um… nothing… I think. I mean you should understand all of this.


	14. Flames of the Past

_This is the chapter you've all been waiting for! Well what are you doing reading my notes! Read the chapter! Just skip the entire Disclaimer, nothing interesting there! I swear it! Mwaahahaha…._

**Disclaimer: Negima! doesn't belong to me, so long as certain people are fighting to the death for it… so my plan starts… I take over your minds with my ridiculously long disclaimer, slowly remove any information of the real Ken from your mind, and slowly corrupt it with thoughts that replace it with MMR… mwahahahahaha! Connor doesn't belong to me either, but I'm OK with that.**

**-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**

**Messed Up**

Masayoshi banged his head against the wall, Masayoshi's gone through space and time, he's watched the entire civilization of mankind go through their various stages, he's even lost the Holy Grail when he was transporting it through time, not his fault, the grail was in his right hand while a goblet of water was in his other hand, there was a bum on the road and Masayoshi felt sorry for him, so he gave them the goblet of water… or so he thought… but despite going through all of this boring stuff, this has become the most boring thing he's ever been through.

Connor had enough self control to not do the same thing as Masayoshi, but he was mentally snoozing, so there really wasn't much he could do in his half-conscious state. He was staring straight ahead, a lopsided smile on his face, one eye droopy and the other wide open. His head was tilted to the side and he made funny wheezing sounds every now and then.

Negi sat up with a great smile on his face, completely ignorant of his two fellow young teachers sitting on the bench next to him. His two students, Setsuna and Konoka, have returned sometime yesterday afternoon, and were currently with the dean about getting back with class 3A. Negi was horribly saddened to lose them, but now with there return he feels as though everything is getting back to normal, "Hey Connor? Do you think Setsuna and Konoka have changed?"

"Mrfl…"

Negi looked at Connor and sweatdropped, a smile on his face, "Er… whatever you say…" he spotted Masayoshi, "How about you Masayoshi-san? Do you think they're the same they've always been?"

"Argh I'm bored! I'm sorry Negi I'm going to go for a bit of a walk…" Masayoshi jumped up off the bench and walked away briskly, leaving a mentally asleep Connor and a slightly distressed Negi on the bench.

-

Masayoshi sat on the steps of the old clock tower, watching the wind darting to and fro between the tsuwabuki, the wind was cold and sharp as a steely dagger, yet Masayoshi welcomed such weather, helps him think. He closed his eyes and envisioned his tasks, but before anything materialized a voice broke through his concentration.

"Are you… Masayoshi-sensei?"

Masayoshi opened his left eye and looked at the face of a young girl. She was… floating. She was pale; her eyes were sort of red. She smiled at Masayoshi. He looked at her for a second and tried to touch her, his hand passed through her head.

Sayo yelped and stepped back, "What was that for?"

Masayoshi laughed, "It's not like you felt that Casper."

Sayo pouted, "I am Sayo Aisaka, and I am not Casper."

Masayoshi smiled, "Very well Sayo… are you aware I'm an exorcist?"

Sayo was taken aback for a moment, but then looked around meekly, "I do… I need your help… I'm… trying to find one of my friends…"

Masayoshi stood up, "Sure, who are you looking for?"

Sayo looked very sad for a moment, "…her name is… was… Kazumi Asakura…"

Masayoshi paled, "Ah… I see… well…" he then smiled warmly, "She's surely around here somewhere…"

Sayo sighed, "I've been looking ever since she died… I can't find her anywhere…"

Something struck Masayoshi's thoughts, a flashback of Connor explaining her death, what he knew of her via his book, and now… "People become ghosts when their souls leave their bodies and roam the void between Earth and Heaven instead of rising to Celestial lands… mostly because the shock of their death is too much for them… that's why those who are murdered or sick or die in accident become ghosts… so if Kazumi isn't a ghost… her soul…" He walked toward the tsuwabuki, blatantly ignorant of Sayo, who followed him. "If she's not a ghost… her soul is gone or wither went up… I doubt the second part, no young girl dies easy… which means when she died her soul must have been collected by… damn." Masayoshi reached into his pocket and pulled out a small notepad and a real pen identical to his magic one and began scribbling furiously on it.

Sayo peered over his shoulder, "What are you writing?"

Masayoshi turned and faced her, grinning widely, "I know how to bring her back!"

-

Connor woke up after a rather violent snore; he rubbed his eyes and looked around, then to his watch, "Shit! It's after midnight! How the hell did I sleep that long! I could have gone into a coma! Wow… you really can die from boredom…" he jumped up and walked toward Ku Fei's room.

When he reached the door, a very annoying scratching sound was coming from a few doors away, _I'm a teacher, it's my duty to go yell at some girls._ He opened the door, then without looking inside he spoke, "Yo, shut up in there!"

"Sorry Connor…"

"Yeah don't worry about… M-Masayoshi?"

Masayoshi opened the door, "Yeah?"

Connor entered and shut the door, "What are you doing this late at night? Better not be touching those twins or else you'll…"

Masayoshi laughed under his breath, "Relax Mr. Pedophile, I'm just trying to work on a spell."

Connor looked at the hundred sheets of paper all over the place, "Holy shit man… what spell is that?"

"It's a go anywhere-whenever spell. With my book I can do it without all of this work, but without I need to use exactly one hundred sheets of paper with time seals on it, then I have to write down where I want to go on a separate piece and burn it, then I light them all on fire, once the last one burns out, I go where I want to go."

Connor poked Masayoshi on the chest, "Don't you go and think about running off! You owe me!"

"Relax boss, this spell is going to help yo…" Masayoshi faltered on the word and laughed, "It's just practice, since I doubt I'll get my book back anytime soon."

Connor didn't buy it, "You were going to say it's going to help me, now tell me how this is going to help me!"

Masayoshi put his finger to his lips, "Shh… I don't want to wake up the girls, they don't know I'm a mage!"

Connor sucked in a lot of air, and looked as though he was about to scream. Another part of his mind was amazed the twins didn't know he was a mage, no one was kept secret for this long. Then again, the girls that knew he was a mage knew from the very beginning.

Masayoshi's hands went over Connor's mouth, "OK OK! Just stay quiet! Hold on, I'll grab these." He made a funny motion with his hand, something between waving and making a 'come here' signal, and then something like writing a circle with his index finger. The papers stacked themselves up and floated in the air about a foot behind Masayoshi. Masayoshi then pushed Connor out and in a matter of seconds, they were outside.

Connor finally calmed down as the cold breeze hit his body, goose bumps immediately following, "Explain now."

Masayoshi sighed, his breath coming out as a cloud, "I know how to bring Kazumi back."

Connor's face was of utmost surprise, then he smiled hopefully, "You mean… she can be saved?"

Masayoshi sighed, a tired look on his face, "I can… she died when a mix of black magic entered her soul. You see, magic is like magnets, black magic and good doesn't mix too well, they repel; Kazumi was pure, she was good and clean, but when your dose of black magic entered her body, it sort of… well, eroded her soul, what was left was taken by the Mother, who used that soul, which was most likely soaked in black magic by that time, and used it to power her new body, but that body was composed of pure souls, so she actually needed you to kill her so she could start fresh… if I save Asakura… then the Mother will regain power, I'll admit she'll be a few days behind schedule… but she won't be dead… she must have known I was coming… weird."

Connor shook his head, "I don't care! Save her! No wait…"

Masayoshi sighed in relief, "Now you understand…"

Connor shook his head, "No, I'll go. You've helped a lot, thanks." Connor grabbed the stack of paper and with a snap of his fingers, lit them ablaze.

Masayoshi's eyes widened to the size of tea saucers, "No Connor you can't!" Masayoshi tried to douse the flames with a jet of water, but only got a small trickle. In a flash of light, both teens disappeared.

-

"Rep, what's up with the 'having a dead girl in your house' thing? You'd think we'd have at least heard something about it before now," Asakura asked, moving in stride with the blonde, pen and pad in hand.

"Well...it's not really something I'm proud of, so I don't normally say anything about it. I mean, would you?" The rep retorted with a frown.

"Really, what's going on?" Kaede cut in, interested to hear for herself.

With a sigh, Ayaka began, "Um...a long time ago, before I lived here, this place used to be a-"

"Indian burial ground?" Connor cut in.

"A what? Th-That's...not Japanese, no. It was a-"

"Hospital?"

"No, not a hospital, Connor-sensei. It was a-"

"Daycare that burned down?" He popped a third question, adding under his breath not to call him sensei.

Ku Fei nudged his arm, "Hey, she never gonna tell us you keep stopping her!"

"A-Actually, the third one was right," The rep admitted, the shadows of the night hiding the look of surprise on her face, "How did you guess?"

"I've seen enough movies to be able to guess, for this kind of thing, honey. Plus, dealing with all things ma-"

Yue reached up and clapped a hand over his mouth, while Asukara quickly spoke, "So the girl is someone who died in the fire? But...why didn't she stay dead?"

The voices faded away as the troupe slowly made their way down the great hallway. Masayoshi and future Connor stood pressed against the wall on separate sides; they quickly came together and tried to come up with a plan.

Masayoshi's voice came from Connor's right, "OK Connor, do you remember where the ghost girl was?"

Connor quickly tried to think, "Umm… um… the East Wing! That's that way!" He took off, Masayoshi following closely behind.

Masayoshi shook his head, "It's best to not mingle with your past self, trust me, it'll be way too much of a problem later. There must be another way to get there… ah I've got it!" Masayoshi skidded to a stop and pulled out a piece of chalk and drew a large circle around himself and Connor.

Connor shook his head, "No freaking way I'm going to make a pactio with you buddy!"

Masayoshi raised an eyebrow, "What's a pactio? I'm just going to make us invisible for about an hour… no wait… without my book that's five minutes. No matter, that's just enough to get past the past group and find the poltergeist!"

Connor crossed his arms, "OK so when are we going to be invisible?"

Masayoshi slowly vanished and laughed a little, "Already are Connor boy, we already are. Let's go." Masayoshi took off in a sprint down the hall.

Connor cursed the teen under his breath and sprinted after him, they soon caught up to the group, Masayoshi must have done something like this before, for his steps were incredibly silent, for the only steps Connor could here was the clop clop of the team's shoes. As he dashed through them, he caught a glimpse of Asakura, she was walking with a look of distress in her eyes… Connor felt a slight pang of sadness when he seen her, a near silent gasp left his lips, but nevertheless he ran off without a second look.

Asakura inhaled sharply, causing everyone to whip around in fear. The tension that exploded into the air in that second was so dense that everyone felt nearly twice their weight. Past Connor nearly fell down, he spun so fast. The paparazzi girl looked at them in surprise, a little embarrassed, "Sorry, just a hiccup..." She lied feebly. She looked around; she could have sworn she heard a gasp somewhere near her…

Masayoshi's face emerged in front of a large door, "Good work buddy, not a problem right? Now is this the right way?"

Connor nodded, "Yeah, I remember, the damn thing was freaking us all out so much I couldn't aim properly…"

Masayoshi smiled, "Not a problem with me, hold on for a second." Masayoshi closed his eyes and touched the door; a magic circle appeared and then disappeared.

Connor pointed at the door, "What was the point of that?"

Masayoshi inspected the door and opened it quietly, "That's a seal to keep the ghost from leaving, my exorcism spells will beat on those ghosts so badly, even the toughest will try to run for it."

Connor smirked, "You're that sure of yourself huh?"

Masayoshi smiled, "You have no idea."

Connor pointed to a small ladder going up to the attic, "That's where Negi was when we found him, the ghost was attacking him."

Masayoshi nodded, "Let's go." But before any of them took a step, the two large doors swung open, Masayoshi urged Connor up the ladder, "I'll buy us a bit more time!"

Masayoshi snuck in the shadows to the group, he noticed Ku Fei picked up a large book off a pedestal, with a silent incantation the book was slapped out of her hands by an invisible bat.

"What the hell was that?" that was Ayaka's voice.

Ku Fei bent down and picked up the book, "I drop! Sorry!"

Stifling his laughter, Masayoshi ran off.

Connor was waiting for him at the foot of the ladder, looking very angry, "That was you!?"

Masayoshi looked at him confused.

Connor spoke behind grit teeth, "You're the one that made Sunshine drop that book!? You know how much pain you cost me!? And thanks to you Ayaka knows about magic!"

Masayoshi waved it off, "Relax, even if you didn't do that, fate would have had her find out about magic right before she heads up to the high school, Negi accidentally sneezes and her clothes fly off.."

Connor looked at him funny, and then simply climbed the ladder, Masayoshi doggedly following him.

As they got up they heard Negi scream, Connor knew exactly what was about to happen and grabbed Masayoshi then dived into the shadows behind a large pile of boxes.

Not a moment too soon, the gang climbed up looking for their beloved teacher. After issuing some orders the group separated, future Connor made a motion and the two stealthily followed Ayaka, Past Connor, and Asakura. The future group witnessed the meeting of Negi and then…

"Hold it, Emo! We can solve all of our problems right here, right now!" Chamo shouted, jumping out of Past Connor's pocket.

"Ok, you two!" Chamo pointed at Asakura and Connor, "Get in this circle and make like hormone-driven teens!"

Past Connor grabbed Asakura and looked at her in the eyes. Talk broke out between the two.

Masayoshi patted Connor's shoulder, "Nice one bud, I can understand why Asakura died for you. But unfortunately I have to end it, promise me that you'll stay here and let me handle this." to Connor's surprise Masayoshi took off his left shoe.

Connor nodded, "Just don't mess up."

Then the ghost girl suddenly climbed over the box they were hiding behind, it all happened in a moment, Masayoshi, with a wild grin on his face chucked his shoe at Past Connor's face, the hit threw Connor off balance and the Asakura's lip only met air. Masayoshi then pointed at the ghost, who shrieked as it slowly dissolved, then he released a portion of its soul, which was for some reason was sucked into a coin instead of going to peace, oh well, no plan goes perfectly.

Connor looked back to the mess before him, Ku Fei just ran off, heartbroken to see Past Connor_ almost_ kiss Asakura. Kazumi herself was feeling faint from the failed kiss, and was carried away. Everything appeared to have gone like it did, except there was no kiss to seal Asakura's fate.

Masayoshi tapped his shoulder, holding a green flame, "This is the ghost… well… at least what's left of it. We're going to use the raw power that resided in her soul to get us back to present time. You ready to go?"

Connor bit his lip, looked at the fainting Asakura once more, then nodded.

-

Connor found himself laying in the tsuwabuki, his head hurt. He sat up, Masayoshi was smiling at an open area of tsuwabuki, and he turned to Connor, "Well? How are you feeling?"

Connor coughed and looked around, it was bright, and the sun was up and rejoicing its dominance in the sky. He blinked out those sleepy tears, "Did we… did we save her?"

Masayoshi smiled, a proud look on his face, "Maybe."

Connor sweatdropped, but exhaustion overtook him and he simply collapsed by the grinning teen.

Masayoshi pulled out a tsuwabuki near his foot, he twirled it with his index and thumb, the sunlight shining off its pale petals, "No plan works perfectly, but this one came pretty close to it…"

**-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**

_Phew… I had to copy, paste, and edit the conversations from The Dreamer for this chapter so I hope you guys enjoy the antiquity of this chapter! Because it's old and new at the same bleeding time! I hope you guys are kind if happy with the ending._

_Oh and those of you who may be after my head for bringing back Natsumi, well too bad! I won't have one of my favorite characters stay dead for the entire story! Well I suppose many of you would wither be rejoicing her not dying, or cursing me for bringing her back and not warning you, but I did, I gave you a lot of hints that you'd see her again. So go away and let me live at least long enough to finish this terrible story and possibly get a few days head start, because if it took my own family about ten years to find me here, I doubt any of you would be able to find me any sooner._

Slight Translations/Explanations:

Um… nothing… I think.


	15. Where Fate Leads Us

_I apoligize to all of you if you think this seems rushed... cause... it was._

**Disclaimer: Negima! doesn't belong to me, neither does Connor, Moro, or other OC's that might appear. I do however own Masayoshi and half of this storyline… which really is depleting quickly.**

**-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**

**Messed Up**

Connor bit through the skin of the orange and spat it out on a plastic tray, "So exactly how did we affect the future, present and past?"

Masayoshi looked at his small notepad, "Well from what I can figure… due to her importance in this school, and to all of the students… the chances are pretty high."

"What? What do you mean?"

Masayoshi blinked, "Alright… think of this, two nights ago you went on that little run with Ku Fei. Now that's if Asakura was dead. If she was alive, what's not to say out of jealousy she pretended to be deathly sick so you would rather stay by her side? Then that means there was never that date with Ku Fei two days ago, thus if there was something important said on that date, such as a confession, it never happened, then there wouldn't be years of extra dating and possible marriage. See what I mean? That's why there's so few of us left…"

Connor peeled the rest of the skin off, revealing the juicy, much more appetizing portion of the fruit, "So… what you're saying is because of us saving Asakura makes her not dead, she might have unintentionally affected the future… er present?"

Masayoshi nodded, "Yeah a bit, now think of this, because she survived she grew up to get married and have two kids, let's say these kids grew up and became part of some important project to save humanity. Now if she died…"

Connor nodded, nibbling on a bit of orange, "This is so complicated… well at least I understand that Serac a bit more…"

Masayoshi scooped up a bit of rice, "Yeah, fate and time kind of walk hand in hand… but anyway I think I solved some of our problems…"

Connor looked at him inquiringly, "What's that supposed to mean?"

Masayoshi scratched his chin, "Think of fate as the maker of giant woven rug, sometimes as you work on it for as long as Fate has, some mistakes might appear, that's where Serac comes in, think of him as the guy who repairs the rips and such. Now think of me as the guy that rearranges the pattern on the rug to make it look better for the buyer. Sometimes when I rearrange something I accidentally rip something, so now the repair guy has to go back and sew it up, which might ruin the pattern, it's sort of like a circle, cause sometimes..."

"No I mean how'd you solve some of our problems?"

Masayoshi laughed a little, "Oh that… I just made sure to keep Asakura out of everyone's immediate hair until Fate can replan, so I made sure she left Mahora for a few days to visit her family and she is going to return today from her little vacation, actually she should be already here."

Connor spit out an orange seed, and looked straight past Masayoshi's head, "Replan? Fate doesn't replan, they go and solve the problem, that's why there is a person called Serac, that's what he does..."

Masayoshi smirked deviously, "Not if they can't solve it, the only way to solve this particular problem is to kill Asakura, but since she's been alive for a good long time after her supposed death, killing her will just cause more problems. They will re-plan their strategy, just like television directors when an actor screws up too much..."

Connor raised his brows, "So… we get off that easy?"

Masayoshi shrugged, "Nobody knows… think of it like this, if some absolute stranger interrupts an important dinner with a very special girl, what would you do to that person?"

Connor laughed a little as he finished the orange, "Most likely I'd kick their sorry ass all over the place, then I'd shove my foot straight down their-"

Masayoshi nodded omnisciently, "And thus could be one of our fates… but I'm sure we'll be fine.

Connor smirked, "Yeah you always have that ability to be able to make people happy eh? Well I better go, I only get two days a week off, and I'm using it to the fullest!" with that he left the table, leaving Masayoshi alone to his own lunch.

Masayoshi shook his head; _let's hope everything goes according to plan eh?_

-

Asakura smiled as she brushed her hair, instead of having lunch and then going out with some friends, she was going to go find Connor and maybe… well she'll see. Asakura reached for a stick of lipstick, and then thought better of it, _if I wear this… I'll probably look like some bimbo… _she set it down and reached for some toothpaste and her toothbrush.

Connor found the door, he knew exactly where she'd be, since her death he walked around, examining her belongings in her room, thinking of how much he didn't know about her, but before he could knock on the door, a cold breeze sent a tingling sensation down his spine, more so at the base of his neck. He took a step back.

Asakura opened the door, and it slammed into Connor's face, knocking him out.

-

Masayoshi sighed, he put his hands in his pocket and looked up at the blue bright sunny sky. And due to the large percent of peacefulness in his little world, a source of pain and randomness was needed to fulfill the balance of the universe as we know it.

'Wan-wan-kun!"

"Oh fu-" before he could get the critical curse out of his mouth, he felt a pair of soft bodies tackle him into the ground, intent on being as close to him as possible.

Fumika sighed as the three just laid down on the grass, "I like days like this… these are days you never want to forget…"

Fuka sighed as well, "Mm… sometimes I just wish time would stop for a while and let it be like this forever…"

Masayoshi stared at the clouds, his face grim and sad, "Girls… nothing lasts forever… so just enjoy everything while you can."

Fuka rolled over and faced Masayoshi, "What does that mean?"

Masayoshi closed his eyes, "The world changes as it ages, as do its people. It's a thing we must deal with… there will be other days like this in the future too…" he envisioned a field he used to play on when he was so very young… before all of this was thrust upon him.

Fumika snuggled closer to Masayoshi, "Can't we just let this last as long as possible? Please?"

Masayoshi put his arms around their shoulders and held them tightly, "Sure."

-

Negi rubbed his eyes and looked back at his class, the bell would ring soon and most of the girls returned early. _Odd… why do I feel so sleepy?_ He reached for a glass of water and knocked it over on accident. It took his weary mind a few seconds to process exactly what happened, and even then he did nothing to stop the water from ruining his reports.

Konoka slowly leaned forward then snapped back up in her seat, her eyes wide open, then they drooped and she leaned forward again.

Ayaka yawned loudly and covered her mouth with a delicate hand, she looked around and blushed.

Nodoka was leaning on her chair, already feeling the warm blanket of sleep overcome her and embrace her in thoughts and fantasies of the far recesses of her mind.

Konoka tugged at Setsuna's blouse, "Hey… let's go get a drink, I feel super sleepy."

Setsuna nodded, yawning very slightly herself.

Natsumi coughed and watched as Setsuna and Konoka went for a drink, she swallowed and cleared her throat, but soon thought a drink would help her more.

Ayaka's eyes slowly opened in time to watch a group of girls leave, she held out a hand as though to stop them, "Hey… the bell… will ring…" she shakily stood up and walked after them, very much in a zombie-style.

-

Masayoshi opened a single eye as he heard a slow and steady sound of footfalls. He anticipated an attack and slashed at the air, it met with a rapier. He looked up in anger and horror as the lifeless eyes of one of the Mother's soldiers grabbed his throat.

-

Connor's jerked his body out of someone's grasp and he snapped back to consciousness, he felt his elbow bury itself in someone's ribs. He looked up and seen the pained expression of a black cloaked man wielding a weapon. He immediately dropped to the ground and grabbed the man's leg, with a grunt he heaved backward and the man toppled to the ground and disintegrated.

Connor quickly looked around and heard a chilling scream in the direction of a different hall, he sprinted, only thinking of Kazumi, and arrived at the place where the hall in time to witness an exact duplicate of the previous man disappear with Konoka. Setsuna was on the ground, most likely just knocked out. He quickly bent down and inspected her. She would be fine. He heard another scream and ran to the window, from there he seen a large force attack a black clothed boy and two girls with pink hair, they immediately dispatched the boy and disappeared with the three.

He hit the glass with his window, too shocked at what just happened to even scream in frustration. He turned as he heard a heavy footstep.

It was Negi.

Negi leaned heavily on his staff, "Connor… the girls… asleep… strong magic…"

-

Connor sat by Negi on a boulder, he was carrying a semi-awake Setsuna.

Negi coughed as he drank from a box of juice, "There's some sort of magic field around the school… anyone in there will fall asleep… someone planned all of this… very well…"

Connor stared at the school, "How far does it stretch?"

Negi shrugged, "Near the World Tree, and then it bends off at the old clock tower… whoever did this was good… but not good enough…"

Connor stood up, "A long distance spell like this would need to come from the source, and do you know how to find whoever did this?"

"I can."

The two turned and seen Jessica, Connor raised a single eyebrow, "I thought you went home, you said the demon ran off."

Jessica nodded than pulled something out of her back pocket, she revealed a crimson badge, "Lt. Jessica Destine, one-man army of the InterMagi."

Negi and Connor gawked.

Jessica smiled, "It took me a while, but with this field here, I finally was able to track the Angel's new hiding spot. I'm here to destroy them, your'e going to help. Right?"

The two found themselves nodding in amazement, "Sure…"

Jessica smirked, "OK, it's just up the mountain. In a newly discovered cave."

-

Setsuna stood at the mouth of the cave, "So… you're saying that in here… there is a secret organization that has been doing terrible things… all over the world?"

"Possibly."

"And Ojou-sama and the others who were kidnapped are in here?"

"Possibly."

Are you sure your plan will work?"

"…possibly."

Setsuna sighed, then looked to Negi and Connor for help, they both shrugged. She too sighed and the quartet slowly trudged up the mountain.

Negi looked back down to the schools and sighed in despair, Setsuna put an arm on his shoulder, "There's no worries Negi-sensei. Jessica-san believes if we kill the mage who did this the girls will wake up."

Negi paled, "Kill?"

Connor pushed Setsuna's hand away and laughed guiltily, "Ehehe… no not kill… incapacitate."

Jessica laughed, "Yeah, that'll work too."

Setsuna looked into the cave, squinting as though that would disperse the darkness, "When are we going in?"

"Now should be a good time."

The group took a step back as a young man materialized before them. Masayoshi looked horrid, one of his lens on his glasses were cracked, his arm was bleeding, he had a blood-stained cloth wrapped around his leg. He smiled weakly, "The… girls… I'm so sorry… they… beat me…" he collapsed and stopped moving.

Negi quickly ran up to help him, but some physical force brought him down to his knees.

The red-robed man smirked as he too materialized by Masayoshi's body, "Not yet, we still need him." A dozen of the half-dead soldiers jumped from the trees, all of them simultaneously drawing out their thin rapiers. The red-robed man laughed, "Congratulations on escaping the sleeping shield, we didn't expect anyone to get out of there. Angels. Attack!" He pulled his robes over Masayoshi and they both vanished along with a sound that closely resembled someone tugging clothes off a drying rope.

Setsuna quickly parried with some of the soldiers, Jessica pulled out a long rapier of her own and began to duel one of the soldiers. Connor unleashed a large blast of fire and allowed Negi to back him up with arrows of light.

Setsuna jumped back narrowly avoiding a thrust of the blade aimed for her heart and quickly slashed at her attacker, who exploded into dust. She ducked as another man took his place, "There's too many! We'll be here all day!"

Jessica quickly parried an attack and brought her rapier down on a man's head. Before he even turned to dust she grabbed his robe and threw in the direction of another. She quickly impaled another man before her rapier snapped, "Shit!"

Connor clutched his old wounds and backed up, "Urgh…" he ducked and punched another man who did his best to decapitate poor Connor. Connor stood up and grabbed Negi, "Negi and I'll go ahead! Come on after us after you deal with them!" Jessica nodded in response and Setsuna swung her sword overhead and took out three men as a response.

-

Negi and Connor walked down the halls silently. That is until Negi began to have a fit of coughing. Connor turned to silence him, but Negi shook his head, "I don't think the guards are here…don't you feel it?"

Connor nodded slowly, "The Mother… she's almost ready…"

Negi nodded, "Which means her guards are either with her… or out fighting Setsuna and Jessica-san."

Connor nodded again and the pair walked to the end of the hall, where a large door greeted them. Connor pushed it with a pained effort and it slowly gave way to his strength.

Connor and Negi both paled as they seen the face before them… then Connor grit his teeth in anger, "Traitor…"

**-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**

_Almost done._

Slight Translations/Explanations:

Um… nothing… I think.


	16. Dispair, for Hope is Near

_The concluding chapter…this is one long chapter guys… my longest ever. Have fun, and please, no flames._

**Disclaimer: Negima! doesn't belong to me, so long as certain people are fighting to the death for it… so my plan starts… I take over your minds with my ridiculously long disclaimer, slowly remove any information of the real Ken from your mind, and slowly corrupt it with thoughts that replace it with MMR… mwahahahahaha! Connor doesn't belong to me either, but I'm OK with that.**

**-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**

**Messed Up**

Masayoshi smiled weakly, beside him was the red-robed Judgemaster, "I'm really sorry it had to come to this, I really didn't think you'd make it this far."

Connor clenched his fists, "You god damned traitor!"

Masayoshi seemed appalled by the remark, "Connor… I never thought you'd think of me this way… I'm mankind's savior… I'm the Samaritan!"

Negi shook his head, "I don't believe this… why Masayoshi? I thought…"

Judgemaster laughed cruelly, his eyes flashing maniacally, "You thought he was on your side!? No little mage, he was never on your side. Everything that happened these last few weeks was all coordinated perfectly, to the very last detail… however the death of Elia was something I did not expect, but she succeeded into making Serac believe what he does, so now I need not fear for she fulfilled her final mission to the fullest."

Masayoshi sighed, "We are all but pawns in a great game, Connor, and pawns are the first to go and most expendable. We may become queens, but we're still just an object to be used by Fate." He reached to his left arm and pulled out his black book, once hidden in the shadows. "Fooled you didn't I? To think I was so weak… to think you had the upper hand… well not again! This time Connor, I win."

Connor stared angrily at Masayoshi, "Where are the girls…"

"Safe. They're over there, in the next room with Mother. Unconscious. I needed a fragment of their soul though, and I have it. Now all the Mother needs is a pleasant rest, just about five minutes and we're good. Please turn back now; I don't want to have to kill you." Masayoshi opened his book, a faint purple glow emanated from it.

Negi looked at Connor, "What do we do?" his voice was strong, but it had about it a hint of fear.

Connor whispered, "We have to beat them and kill the Mother… I'll take Masayoshi, you get the Judgemaster."

"No." Connor and Negi both turned around, Sho was standing there, his face calm, "I have the traitor… he's mine." He released the machete from his iron glove, it landed on the ground with a reverberating thud.

Connor glared, "I thought you were against us."

Sho shook his head, "No… I was on your side the entire time. We all knew Masayoshi was going to betray us, so we came to try to save the future." Two figures appeared behind him. One in a dark robe, a hood concealing her pink hair; the other a young man, pieces of paper designed to protect one from evil spirits covering an arm.

Marie bowed, "He killed my family, now I kill him."

Moro flexed his arm tenderly, "If I can… get the pay for this job… I might be able to buy some peace after all…"

Negi nodded, "Then me and Connor will fight Judgemaster, and then kill the Mother."

Masayoshi tapped his foot, "Sho… you know I wouldn't betray anyone, maybe you don't realize it, but I'm securing our future! Man, if left unchecked, will destroy itself in their meaningless wars! At least this way the innocent will be protected."

Sho took a step forward, his right hand clenched, making a horrible grinding sound as his metal gauntlet scraped against itself, "And by taking hundreds of innocent lives this will make it better?!"

"Every goal has a sacrifice, people will die for a greater good, and those who survive will live to see it happen, and honor those who died…" Masayoshi smiled warmly, "Is there not a greater future? The living will live in paradise, and the dead will be forever revered as gods…"

Connor clenched his fist, "Then die already!" He ran at Masayoshi, so quickly he was only a blur, and aimed a punch at Masayoshi's head.

Masayoshi smirked, and just as quickly dropped to his knees and kicked Connor's feet from under him, Connor's momentum carried him over Masayoshi and into a pillar. Masayoshi stood up, and walked to the left side of the hall, opposite of Connor's position; Connor he let out a pained grunt and collapsed. Masayoshi laughed "Alright, then you choose death!"

-

Negi quickly ran towards the Judgemaster, he swung his staff in a wide arc and a blast of wind shot out and hit the red robed man dead-on. But to his anguish the man held his own staff parallel to the ground, the attack simply bounced off and shattered a rock not too far away.

"You think you can beat me boy!? I am the Judgemaster! Prepare for your Last Judgement!" He ran up to Negi, who felt as though his feet were nailed upon the ground, Negi quivered in fear. The man was close enough for Negi to be able to taste his breath, "No longer will those of ill-deeds live to see the rising sun! Those who reveal themselves to be sinners shall be cast out! Ready to die boy?"

Negi's eyes widened in horror as the man's staff turned into a slithering serpent, "I-I-I-I-I… ugh…"

The man frowned, his voice becoming soft and understanding, "Understand your own death, and weep for those that come after you…" The snake opened its mouth and hissed in Negi's ear, "Now boy, atone for your sin- ARGH!" The man's face contorted into pained surprise, he fell onto his knees, a shadow behind him.

The shadow stepped forward, Negi could see her now, she pulled the knife out of the man's back, who fell forward and twisted around, so he too, could see the face of the one who wounded him, he gasped, "Im…possible…"

Elia grimaced as the man's blood touched her shoes, "You have been revealed for what you are. Accept your Final Judgement…" she threw her knife over to the side, "No one is untouched by fate. We are the children of sorrow, we know our mortality, but man doesn't choose his fate. Man lives and dies as They see fit!"

The red-robed man's breathing came harsh, "But… you… you're dead…"

"Serac said I had more things to do, I still need to play my role… he took me away and left me in a forest. Now I've returned, and I've done what was needed of me…"

"This is all wrong… I'm not supposed to die… all… wrong… the plan… the plan!"

Elia shook her head, she was on the verge of crying, "I thought the old men and… I thought all of you were supposed to help mankind… I guess I was wrong…"

The man shook with convulsions, the death throes, "N-no! I'm not dying… I am untouched by fate… I… I was supposed… to live…" his eyes rolled to the back of his head and he stopped moving, his final breath a repressed sigh, as though all he worked for left him in the manifestation of that single exhale of air.

Elia fell to her knees, "Go Negi, go kill the Mother… don't let the future die…"

Negi realized he could move, "B-but… you need help! You're hurt!"

"No… just tired… I'll leave once I get Masayoshi, then I'm free…" she pushed him gently towards a door in the back Negi never noticed, "Go!"

Negi ran, he ran to the door and opened it, then gasped.

-

Marie hit the ground, "N-no… how could he be so… strong… ugh…" her vision faded out and she fell into unconsciousness.

Sho dived out of the way as a billowing purple cloud exploded nearby; he landed on one knee and looked angrily at Masayoshi, "That book can't make you that strong!"

Moro ducked as a shard of rock flew overhead, "Sho! What do we do? Marie's out cold!" He blocked another chunk of rock with his arm.

Masayoshi laughed, "Come on boys! Don't tell me you're giving up already! I'm only on the third page!"

Sho threw his machete at Masayoshi who actually grabbed it with his hand, he cocked his head at Sho, "Now now, no point using this if it can't his me right?" he then pulled on the chain roughly, Sho flew in the air, then made contact with Moro, who was about to strike Masayoshi. Both fell in a crumpled heap on the ground, unable to fight any longer, both retreating into oblivion.

Connor's eyes snapped open as soon as he heard footsteps coming up to him, he quickly made a grab for the foot, which nimbly jumped up and avoided him.

"Come now Connor, get up. Time to fight me."

Connor stood up, and looked at Masayoshi, he had a cigarette in his mouth, Connor plucked it from his mouth, "I didn't know you smoked…"

"I don't."

Connor quickly dropped the cigarette and dived out of the way, not a moment too soon, as the cigarette exploded. Connor looked up to see a very faint outline around Masayoshi. Connor exhaled angrily, "A shield…"

Masayoshi smiled defiantly, "Here. I'll give you a bit of a start." He held his hand, palm down, a rumbling sound stemmed from the ground, then suddenly a chunk of earth shot forth, and stopping inches away from Masayoshi's hand. The rock spun around and around and with every full revolution a bit of rock flew off, until the last of the rock was revealed to be a large sword. Masayoshi stuck it into the ground and jumped backwards, giving Connor room to get up, "Use that and fight me. A fair fight Connor, I'm ready."

Connor stood up shakily and leaned on the sword before clenching his teeth and pulling it out of the ground, he pointed the tip in Masayoshi's direction, "You're not… you're not going to win…"

Masayoshi smiled, "We'll see."

-

Negi opened the chamber door, two of the Mother's guards quickly ran up to him, their lifeless eyes showing no mercy, Negi yelped and ducked, his staff, put under his arm as he was opening the door, shot straight up and hit the face of one of the guards, the other tripped over Negi's small body and landed face-down on the stone floor. Negi, with one fluid motion, just dispatched the two guards. He looked up and found the room un-guarded. Negi snuck in stealthily, and then gasped.

In the middle of the room, sitting on a stone seat, was the Mother. She no longer resembled anything of this world… not quite connected to this world… and yet not quite unattached to her own… She appeared so young and small, no bigger than Evangeline… She was pale, very pale. Her hair had no color in it either, her eyes were closed, and her breathing was soft and gentle, she was neither beautiful nor ugly, she was just… there. She was huddled around a large crystalloid orb; it looked foggy inside and gave off an eerie glow. Her long hair was hovering around, with a life of its own… Negi's eyes followed a single strand then noticed a cell in the corner.

"Girls?" he quickly avoided the estranged messiah and walked over to the cell, he sighed in relief, Konoka, Ayaka, Natsumi, Kazumi, Fuka, and Fumika were all in there, sound asleep. They looked as though they simply strolled into the room and decided to take a quick nap. He looked at the lock and tapped at it with the end of his staff; the bolt glowed, and then unlocked itself, falling to the ground. He looked around, but realized he couldn't do this on his own, despite his own fears, he quickly left the room and set out to find Connor.

-

Connor quickly slashed at Masayoshi, but it was like he couldn't get anywhere near him, at first he thought the sword was enchanted so that it couldn't harm Masayoshi, but even when Connor threw rocks, used his own spells and such, nothing would come near the boy. Connor stepped back; a few feet separated the two.

Masayoshi frowned, "Tired already? Haven't you… been able to do anything yet? Hmm… to think I was bested by you…"

Connor spoke through clenched teeth, "I'm gonna…"

"Connor! The girls won't wake up!"

Connor didn't even look to see Negi appear at the doorway behind Masayoshi, "What did you do to the girls!?"

Masayoshi smiled, "Just took a soul fragment."

"And left them to die!?"

"No… they're… nice. Why would I kill them after I worked so hard to keep them alive? I just had to… take something from them. Something that belongs to me… rightfully."

"…" Negi and Connor both looked at Masayoshi expectantly, waiting to hear the distressing news that would give Connor the will to fight and kill the double agent. But it appeared he wouldn't allow the information to pass past his lips so easily.

"No… you'll find out soon." he pointed at Negi, who immediately rolled for cover, narrowly avoiding a large fireball.

Masayoshi quickly pulled out his magic pen and threw it at Connor; who easily blocked it with the flat of the sword. He ducked as the sword shattered and Masayoshi's uncontrolled magic bounced off the walls.

Negi coughed as one of the shards of Masayoshi's magic hit the ground and brought up a bunch of dust, another blast knocked him right off his feet.

Masayoshi turned and pointed at Negi, he whispered something as he closed his eyes.

Connor grimaced and ran towards Masayoshi, preparing for the death blow.

Masayoshi opened his eyes and looked at Negi expectantly, but never seen what happened next.

It was all like slow motion to Negi then… Negi, in distress, sneezed quite violently, dust can do that you know. The sneeze threw Masayoshi off by a mile, Masayoshi's shield shattered for just a moment, but just long enough for Connor to get his sword through, Negi screwed his eyes shut, not wanting to see anymore.

"Urgh…" Masayoshi looked down, the dull tip of the blade was sticking out of his stomach, no way could his magic heal that… Masayoshi felt like he was going to vomit, he coughed and to his surprise a steady flow of blood spat from his mouth, trickling down his neck. Masayoshi noticed that there wasn't any pain, just… just a sort of cold feeling, like when you get shots at the doctor's. Masayoshi made a gurgling sound as Connor wrenched the sword out of Masayoshi; he collapsed to his knees, holding his bleeding front. "No… not yet… not yet… now's not the time… I still need… to…" his glasses fell off the tip of his nose and shattered on the ground.

Connor dropped the sword and looked at Masayoshi's shaking body, he was expecting some sort of ecstatic feeling of killing the defector, but all he received was an empty scared feeling.

Masayoshi touched his book, "Not now… ugh… still must…" Masayoshi's face became hidden by a shadow, it literally did, eventually he was a shadow, then he disappeared.

Connor and Negi both looked at the spot in horror, then Negi's voice broke through the silence, "The… the girls…"

Connor nodded silently and they both entered the Mother's room. But not before he bent down and grabbed the silver pen, now imbedded in a chunk of rock, and put them in his pocket. Not knowing why he did this, he asked no questions and simply did what he believed what he should have.

-

Negi pointed at the cell, "That's where they're all being held."

Connor and Negi both went in and looked around, Connor's voice croaked, "Go and get those three outside, they can help us."

Negi quickly went to the door, but it slammed before he was close enough to touch it, he laughed weakly, "H-hey… is anyone out there?"

"Connor again? Why do you torment me so?"

Connor's eyes widened and he spun around, "Damn." The voice was eerily calm, and it felt to both Negi and Connor that this voice was coming from under their feet than right before them.

The messiah was still huddled around the crystal object, her eyes were still closed, and her mouth remained unmoving. But it had to be her… "Connor… Connor, do you know what will happen if you try to kill me now? Your friends' souls will go to waste… you don't want that do you?"

Negi put his back on the door, looking around in horror, "Connor, make her stop!"

"… all of my faithful servants… what have you done with them? Where is my Judgemaster? What of my soldiers? My precious loyal warriors…?" Her eyes opened and Connor and Negi both froze, their eyes locked onto hers. Her eyes weren't of any natural color; it was a shade of everything, all the colors mixed into one, and even then some. It was like staring into a cold bottomless pit, knowing full well if you fell in, you'd never get out.

Negi held his staff out, "Go away!" a blast of light illuminated the room, but when it faded the Mother remained motionless, still staring.

The Mother's lips curled into a smile, her delicate hands gripped the orb tightly, "Haven't you two learned that you cannot change the future?" Negi and Connor's hair began to stick up on end, it felt like the static electricity in the room just tripled. "It's wrong to try to alter the future… perhaps you should… die." The second she said the word a shadowy blur broke through the door and threw something at the Mother. The electricity stopped.

Jennifer landed nimbly, between the Mother and Connor. She stood up to full height, "Return to your home demon."

Connor reached into his pocket and pulled out Masayoshi's quill, he stared at it blankly. Suddenly, as though staring at it caused it to happen, an odd vision overwhelmed him:

_Masayoshi pressed the quill into Connor's hand, "Here, the Mother is using pure, good, and souls of use to keep herself bound to this world. I've already set this baby up to send her straight back to Hell, and not a single soul for her to keep."_

_Connor looked at the quill, "What do I do with it?"_

"… _I don't know. That's your problem. Do whatever you did last time." He laughed._

Connor clenched his fist, "Damn it…"

Jennifer widened her stance and pulled out three small needles, each one with a purification tag on the end. "Connor, something is protecting her. I have a limited amount of weapons, do you have a plan?"

Negi looked at the two and nodded, "I'll go find help! We need more people to carry the girls out!" with that he quickly climbed over the debris that was once a door and could be heard screaming, "Anyone around!? Please help!"

Connor closed his eyes and sighed, "Destroy her protection; I'll be the one to send her back."

Jennifer nodded solemnly and jumped into the air, she quickly threw one dart after another at the Mother, none of which even appeared to get anywhere near her.

The Mother sneered, it was cold and cruel, "Do you really expect to beat me like this Connor? None of your plans will work, nothing here in this world has the power to even scratch me now…" she closed her eyes and the room began to rumble.

Jennifer, as soon as she touched ground, rolled to the left. A spike of earth shot up where she was just a moment ago. Connor jumped back, and he too just narrowly avoided being impaled.

Jennifer threw three darts at a time, there looked as though an electric shock went through the Mother's shield, but it didn't appear to waver her in the least. Jennifer looked in interest to see the darts stuck in mid-air about a foot away from the Mother.

Connor's mind began to work frantically, and then it hit him, "A magic circle!"

Jennifer ducked as a bolt of lightning narrowly missed her head, "What!?"

Connor smiled deviously, "Keep attacking and make sure your tags make a big circle around her!"

Jennifer's eyes widened with realization then she too began to smile, with a wink she set off to work.

Connor ducked under a fallen pillar and waited. He prayed to whatever god up there to let his plan work.

-

Setsuna limped as she entered the corridor, she paled as she walked past so many bodies, "What… what if Negi and the others in those piles… what if… they didn't survive?" she herself barely escaped that Judgemaster. He ran off, but if he didn't she was sure she would have been killed by now. She saw two figures quickly run off to a door hidden in the shadows, she wanted to follow, but something else appeared that made her completely forget about it. It appeared to her as her beloved teacher.

Negi collapsed at Setsuna's feet, "Thank goodness you're OK!" he quickly stood up, "Come on! Everyone else is fighting."

Setsuna's determined face brought new hope to Negi, but before the two could take a few more steps, they suddenly realized they were surrounded by hundreds of pasty faced half alive soldiers.

Negi sniffed and held his staff steady, "No… not now. I have to help Connor!"

Setsuna brandished her sword and leaned off her injured leg, "For Ojou-sama!

-

"AAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!" The Mother's body writhed as wave after wave of holy cleansing tags worked their magic. It coursed through her body like an electric shock.

Connor grinned maliciously and jumped towards her flailing body.

Jennifer sat down and clutched her chest, "Finally…"

"NO!" a shockwave erupted from the Mother's body, completely obliterating most of the rubble. Jennifer was lifted off the ground and was sent careening into the wall. She slumped onto the ground, defeated.

Connor held an arm to his eyes as dust and small rocks bombarded him, he strangely landed from where he first jumped.

The Mother was breathing heavily, it came staggered and weak, "No!" she shrieked, "I won't be beaten! Die!"

Another shockwave flew in all directions.

Connor quickly ducked, creating a small target, the shockwave lifted him off his feet and he slammed into the wall, the quill flew from his hands and landed on the floor.

The Mother stood up, billowing white robes dotted with blood hung on her lithe body. Her long hair was no longer majestic, now it was angry; it flared up here and there, looking huge. Her eyes burned with utmost rage. "No one will take me away!"

Connor felt another blast doming and shielded his eyes. He snarled as chunks of sharp rock imbedded themselves into his arm and legs.

The Mother screamed again, "DIE! DIE! DIE!" this time giant pillars fell from the ceiling, Connor narrowly dodged them by rolling on the ground. Then an idea struck him.

The Mother screamed in sheer anger, madness creeping into her voice, "Why do you do this! I am their savior! They want me!" She lost track of Connor from her rage, but quickly seen the dark brown of his overcoat. She pointed at it deftly and a shard of ice the size of Connor himself flew from her fingertips, it shattered upon impact. Connor was struck down where he lay.

Or so she thought.

Connor quickly stripped himself of his coat and threw it in the air, then he dived out of her line of sight. It all went according to plan, she thought the coat was him in her rage and used her spells on it, while he was safely behind her. He stopped down and picked up the quill. He licked the tip and dived at her.

Never seen it coming.

The Mother turned around as soon as Connor grunted when he jumped, it was too late, she didn't even have time to cover her face with her arms. "Oomph!" she arched forward, Connor's fist colliding into her stomach. Connor quickly slid on his feet and with his hand still connecting to her stomach, used his left hand and stabbed the Mother in the back with Masayoshi's quill. The tip, sharpened to a needle-like point under Masayoshi's care, easily went through skin and possibly muscle.

"Urgh…" a blue light enveloped her, Connor felt a sudden blast of wind and fell back, staring at the messiah in fright. She arched her back and screamed a blood-curling scream. "NO! I won't go alone! I'll take you all with me!" A gigantic blue circle surrounded her, a magic circle, she then evaporated into a blue mist… then only silence.

Connor stood up and looked around, he quickly ran up to where the Mother once lay and picked up the orb, it was about the size of a basketball, light as one too. It glimmered with small lights inside, as though filled with small fireflies. He looked into it, completely enthralled, but then turned to the task at hand. He quickly checked the girls cell, expecting them to wake up now that Masayoshi was dead, but they still remained asleep.

Negi limped into the room, wincing with every step, "Connor… all of the soldiers vanished… did they run away?"

Connor looked at Negi, "No I don't think so… I think… I think we won…"

Suddenly a huge rock fell down between the two, after a few agonizing moments Negi sweat-dropped, "I think we should go now…"

After about three minutes of issuing orders, Moro, Sho, Marie, Setsuna, Negi, and Connor all had a single girl in their arms. Connor cocked his head, and everyone began to run towards the entrance. Jennifer, just now conscious, was serving as rear-guard in case any guard survived. Elia was nowhere to be found. Rocks came tumbling down from the ceiling, it was inevitable, this place would soon fall under itself.

The entrance was close; they could taste the fresh air and the bright light. Connor picked up the pace, Asakura's head bobbing with every step, another ceiling must have collapsed from the sound of rock being crushed behind them all, "We're almost there! Just a little…further…" Connor stopped.

A dark-haired boy stood before them, his crooked smile still about his lips, his clothes stained with blood. He stood firmly on his two feet and held a black, leather-bound book in his left hand.

"Masayoshi…"

"Hi guys."

Negi took a step forward, "I thought you were…"

Masayoshi held out his right hand to silence Negi, "No not yet. I think I have some explaining to do."

"Damn right!"

Masayoshi laughed silently, "I defected to the enemy's ranks for a reason you know. It's not that I wanted to kill you. I had a mission to complete."

Sho took a step forward, groaning inwardly, "To protect the future and secure the human race. I don't see how aiding demons would do that…"

Masayoshi opened his book; everyone ducked slightly, "My book is capable of telling the past. Since we're from the future this is technically the past. My book told me you would all prevail; it even says that Asakura never died. So like I said before… everything went according to plan. This was all planned, a script for us to follow, and we all played our part splendidly."

A huge explosion went off as another room fell.

Connor's eyes grew wide, "You mean… everything that happened… this was all…"

"Perfectly coordinated, to every last word we've said… there's no fighting fate Connor, because everything we do is exactly what Fate expects us to. Everything…"

Negi tried to shake Fuka awake, but she still slumbered, "What… what did you do to the girls? Will they wake up?"

Masayoshi nodded, "They'll wake up. I just had to take a little something from them. Something very important."

Connor spoke through clenched teeth, "What'd you take?"

"I took their memories…" Masayoshi looked at Negi sadly, "I just had to make sure they wouldn't remember any of this… it's best for them to grow up… you know, without such bad memories."

Connor felt a pang of regret, "How much did you take?"

"Enough." With that he turned on his heel, facing the wall, and made a sweeping motion with his arm, "They won't remember anything about me, it might be best that way. Off you go, this place will collapse soon."

Connor nodded to Negi and the others, they all quickly filed out to the exit.

Masayoshi quickly reached out and grabbed Negi's arm, which almost made him drop Fuka. Masayoshi handed Negi his black leather-bound book, "Take this to the library and put it somewhere where no one will ever find it, take it to the deepest, darkest, scariest section, to a place no one will want to go. Connor is carrying an orb, take that too, be careful now."

Negi couldn't protest as Masayoshi shoved the book in Fuka's book bag.

With a friendly shove Negi was pushed out of the cave, just as it collapsed on itself from the Mother's magic.

Negi coughed as the dust was expelled from the cave and thousands of particles entered his lungs. Connor's eyes began to water from all the airborne dirt, he dropped down to his knees and gently set Asakura down. Everyone followed.

A single lone figure came out of the billowing clouds of dust, everyone stared in amazement. But just as Negi was about to go and see who it was, the wind picked up and completely blew the dust away, revealing a dark-clothed Serac.

Connor stood up, anger giving him strength to speak, "Did everything that Masayoshi say was true? Was this all planned!?"

Serac averted his eyes and vanished with the wind.

Connor's eyes widened as he felt a breath near his ear, "A live drama for those of Heaven and Hell, and quite dramatic no?"

Konoka's eyes fluttered open, Setsuna stared down in sheer joy, "Ojou-sama!"

Konoka sat up and yawned, "Ooh… I feel so sleepy… oh!" she looked at Setsuna in a surprised way, "Setchan! Why hello!"

One by one all the girls woke up, looking around in surprise. Negi silently trudged up to Connor and pulled on the older teacher's sleeve, "Do you think… do you think everyone is like this? I mean everyone at the school."

Connor sighed, "I… I don't know Negi…"

Negi sighed, "I think they all forgot… about him."

"Masayoshi?"

Negi nodded solemnly, "Fuka's first impulse was to find her sister, and when I asked her where Masayoshi took her… she had no idea who Masayoshi was…"

Connor looked up at the sky, "For that matter… where did those other guys go?"

Negi looked abashed, "What?"

Connor looked around, "Sho, the pink haired girl, that arm dude, the girl who said she was Masayoshi's sister, and that monk lady… where is everyone?"

"Who?"

**-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**

_Well, although this is technically the final chapter with the complete conclusion… there is one more chapter. One final short chapter…_

Slight Translations/Explanations:

Um… nothing… I think.


	17. Happy Ending, for all of us

_Almost done._

**Disclaimer: Negima! doesn't belong to me, neither does Connor, Moro, or other OC's that might appear. I do however own Masayoshi and half of this storyline… which really is depleting quickly.**

**-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**

**Messed Up**

Connor walked up the path to the World Tree, a piece of paper in his hand, crumpled, yet still legible; _Connor, I must speak to you urgently, please come to the World Tree._ He looked up form the dirt path and stared at the World Tree, he took a step and touched the bark, feeling the magic radiating mere inches away from him. He began to feel a sort of foreboding feeling as he closed his eyes and trained his mind on the tree… then he realized someone was near the tree, he couldn't necessarily see them, but a sort of sixth-sense was slowly developing and it was screaming in his head that there was indeed, someone by the tree… however before he could clarify his odd precognition, a cheery voice called him from behind. He immediately tried to run.

"Connor-sensei!"

Too late.

Kazumi put her arms around his neck and held him tightly, "I'm so glad you came…"

Connor paled, then turned a deep red as the blood rushed back to his face, "…w-what are you doing here!?"

Asakura put her lips close to his ear, then whispered, "Well that note in you room… who do you think put it there?"

Connor swallowed. He opened his mouth, but couldn't respond, this is the second time he was called here by note, and this is the second time he came face to face with the last person he was expecting, "Er… that… that was you?"

Asakura sighed, and put her head on his shoulder, "Of course… this is our anniversary… I thought this is where we'd be most happy… so we can actually confess… properly…"

"A-a-anniversary? I don't even remember going out with you! If I did I'm pretty sure I'd remember…" he was stammering, how very un-Connor-ish…

"Silly Connor… we're always together… we tried kissing in Ayaka's place remember? And on the train… how can you say we've never been together when we've been like this for so long?" she smiled cunningly, knowing full well Connor could make no excuse to escape.

Connor stammered, "I-I-I… but… I…" he stopped, his eyes widening when a ghostly smile appeared in the tree, it was so familiar… so… nice… Connor found his lips curving into a warm smile as well.

Asakura smiled and kissed him on the cheek, "I see you remember now!"

"Connor! What doing you!?"

Connor blanched, his face twisted in horror as he heard a certain Chinese girl call his name. He spun around, Asakura still clinging on to his neck, 'Ku Fei! T-this isn't what it looks like!"

Asakura smirked, 'It is too what it looks like! Me and Connor are celebrating our one year anniversary!"

Ku Fei snarled, her hands curling into shaking fists, "Connor…sensei…."

-

A boy in a black gakuran and wearing new nearly rimless spectacles smiled at the three from atop the world tree. He held in his right hand a silvery, sleek orb. In his other hand was an empty leather strap, it looked like it once held something, something important, but now it was empty. The boy leaned on the great tree's rough bark and sighed, looking up at the light blue sky with his dark earthly eyes, "Poor old Connor… hehehehe" he laughed quietly, and slowly faded away… nothing left there to ever give away his presence…

**-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**

_I was planning on ending the thing right there... and I think I will! But don't dispair my loyal friends, Masayoshi's fate is whatever you guys wish of it, whether he has survived, was a ghost from the very beginnning, or if he was simply a figment of a very stressed late teenager, nobody but I know, and even I am somewhat confused to the ending, I simply allowed my conscious to guide me, and it has left me here to ponder my actions. I will think about writing a re-write to Screwed Up, a much less confusing one, hopefully. Perhaps you can give me your feedback on this story, please. The outcome of the reviews will decide on how well I may survive in a writer's world, so I also, leave my fate in your hands, guide me safely!_

Slight Translations/Explanations:

Masayoshi's appearance – Ghost? Still alive? A memory? Perhaps none of these, it's up to you to decide.


End file.
